Spellbound I: Learning to Fly
by Katherynne the Great
Summary: The world's in grave danger... again. Things are not as they appear when a seemingly vague purpose suddenly becomes larger than life itself. When Willow and Tara finally meet in Sunnydale, infamously known for its' highly active Hellmouth, sparks begin to fly between the girls. What will happen when the pair soon find the answers they've long been searching for?
1. The Spark Within

_Greetings to my fellow readers and aspiring writers! This series is what I think could and ideally should have happened in an Alternate Universe in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season 4, Episode 10: Hush and this entire series revolves mainly around my favorite couple of all time, Willow Rosenberg and Tara Maclay. This is their story..._

_**DISCLAIMER!:** This a work of fanfiction using characters from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, created and produced by Joss Whedon (1997-2003). I do NOT claim ownership for any of these characters nor the world of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The series I tell here about these characters is my own invention, and it is not intended or believed to be part of Joss Whedon's story line, and as such, this series is strictly entertainment only! I am forever grateful for Mr. Whedon and his genius intellect for without the wonderful man, we would not have Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel the Series, as well as his other magnificent works such as Dollhouse and Firefly._

_Be warned that this series is M-rated and some chapters will have adult content! I'll be sure to post a warning before a chapter as needed._

_Please leave feedback as it's always appreciated!_

* * *

Rating: PG-13

Date: December 14th, 1999

Location: Somewhere in the universe...

* * *

Time's up.

The fragile balance between the bloodthirsty demons birthed in the Mouth of Hell and the ordinary human race within the infinite cosmos had piercingly severed.

The world is in danger.

In another ashen-tinged universe not far away, two ethereal souls were coming more into focus. The Heavens has decided to bless the lost drifting forms with the Power of Love.

For this unusual phenomenon, The Powers That Be had summoned a messenger for this daunting task. The ethereal woman was surrounded a halo-like aura that radiated all the known light and warmth within the universe. Her towering presence commanded authority and the utmost respect, and in her booming voice, she spoke to the two lonely essences seemingly chasing the other in a synchronized dance they've known for their entire life.

"In this lifetime, you will meet the one. As soulmates, you have been equally blessed with the Power of Love, and with this ability, you will change the history of your world forever. You will unite an unlikely force the world has ever seen and you will save the universe from being plunged into a second darkness. This precious gift shall not be taken lightly, for a bond of constant trust and love has to be maintained throughout the rest of your lifetime. May you always find your way to each other and may nothing separate you, not even in death."

The messenger vanished just as suddenly as she appeared while the glorious dream continued to unfold; a strikingly beautiful face with gorgeous honey-hued tresses covering the figure's features was finally made out and piercing blue eyes opened abruptly. Jade green eyes opened just as swiftly in the real world.

* * *

Location: University of California, Sunnydale - Sunnydale, California

Willow Rosenberg awoke with a sudden start.

Her slightly shallow breathing began to even out as she blinked rapidly in an attempt to picture her quaint surroundings.

For as long as she could remember, the hacker had the constant flashing images of blonde in a sky blue setting that gorgeously colored the otherwise dullishly gray landscape.

Recently though, they've been appearing almost daily now with increasing vivid intensity, especially more so since the 'Vamp Willow' incident about nine months ago.

_'Of course, how could I ever forget my evil, skanky, and totally gay vampire twin from another alternate universe? I am most definitely **none** of those things!'_

Ever so often in the constantly thinking mind of the unusually intelligent hacker, the recent image of a human face seemed to be more than a mere dream.

It was an epiphany.

Willow rose slightly in the darkened room and shifted to her left to focus her blurry gaze at the alarm clock. Digital envy-green numbers blared out 6:13 a.m.

_'Why am I always up at 6:13?'_

Groaning internally about being up exactly forty seven minutes before her alarm was supposed to wake her, Willow laid back down to catch some more shut-eye as she closed her eyes to think about the dream again. It was the most intense one she had yet.

It wasn't that Willow minded the dreams. In fact- she thoroughly enjoyed them. Every time she experienced the blonde and blue flashes, she was always left so... content. It was always a wonderful day whenever she had those dreams.

Although, it constantly baffled the hacker of how much she continuously tried to focus on that particular blonde flash; just as she could make out a sharper image, the dream vanishes like a candlelight and Willow would have a calm, dreamless sleep for the rest of that night.

No matter when it disappeared, she still felt the great joy whenever she woke up.

However, a small thought, like always, wormed it way into the young woman's mind.

_'Why am I having these dreams? What could it possibly mean? Is it a sign that something is going to happen? Do I even really need to worry? Oh damn, did I leave my laptop on all night? What's for breakfast-?'_

"Wait, what?" Willow groggily called out in the dorm room as the overhead fluorescent light was suddenly turned on, instantly causing the redhead to instinctively hiss and skitter under the comforter from the harsh brightness.

Her only roommate, Buffy Summers, was famously known in Sunnydale as the Vampire Slayer: one who vanquished the forces of evil to keep the world safe from darkness. She and Willow have been best friends since the blonde arrived to Sunnydale in their early sophomore year of high school and they always had the other's back when it came to fighting demons, offering advice with troubled relationships, and even solving ludicrous chemistry equations that shouldn't belong at the high school level.

However, in a dormitory living situation at the University of California at Sunnydale... said roommate was actually _infamously_ known for no common courtesy.

"I said- what's for breakfast? A Slayer's gotta eat you know?" the pacing petite blonde was busy throwing on a last-minute outfit of faded skinny jeans and a lavender peasant blouse to impress her current potential boy toy.

_'Ah... Riley Finn of course.'_

As much as Willow was happy for her best friend having a 'born-and-raised-in-Iowa-and-what-a-good-boy' as a potential boyfriend, who was indeed not a vampire, why couldn't the eternally noisy Slayer just let the redhead sleep in today for once?

"Buff- do you _have_ to be so energetic in the morning? Even better, can you let me sleep?" Willow groused while still hiding under her warm and soft blankets.

"Come _on_, Will! The faster we go eat, the faster I can meet my potential man-candy!" Buffy whined while pulling Willow's covers off causing an instant glare in the Slayer's direction as the bumbling girl scrambled to the vanity to put on her mascara.

Willow groaned again while rolling her eyes in slight amusement and mostly annoyance from her best friend's antics. Sometimes, Buffy really did have an one-track mind.

Willow suddenly got an ingenious idea as revenge for the Slayer for waking her up so ungodly early, "Plot twist: what if he's a vampire?" Willow snickered, which was met with a heavy Slayer pout.

"I swear to god, Willow! You better not be serious! I had enough undead dates to become Penelope from the Underworld!" Buffy yelled her disapproval from the vanity.

Willow raised an eyebrow, "You mean Persephone?"

"Whatever, Will. Same diff," Buffy absently replied while applying the finishing touches of her cherry pink lip gloss.

Willow opened her mouth to make a dry retort, but decided against it and closed her mouth again. She then thought about the dream again, and just couldn't seem to shake off the feeling that something big was going to happen.

Finally sighing in defeat that she can't go back to bed, the redhead stripped out of her pajamas and mentally whooped in victory as she scored a three-pointer with tossing her dirty clothes into the huge laundry basket.

_'All the years of playing basketball with Xander in my synagogue finally paid off.'_

The hacker then took out her outfit of the day, consisting of olive colored cargo pants, a long-sleeved pink blouse, and heavily worn white sneakers that have long since been encrusted with old dirt, recent vampire dust, and god knows whatever else. Willow then groaned in total disbelief when she realized that she didn't even study for today's organic chemistry test.

_'Since when do I **forget** to **study**?! I wonder if-'_

"Will, don't you have that um... Wicca thing today?" the blonde inquired a totally spaced-out hacker while Buffy laid out the various jackets on her still unmade bed to try on.

_'Oh **crap**! I forgot about that too!'_

"Uh... yeah, I do..." the redhead sighed as she scratched her head in annoyance. The discontented groan got Buffy's attention as she then noticed the redhead's frown.

"What's with the long face?"

The hacker could only shrug as she shifted her gaze toward the window, "Well to be honest, we're not really covering anything even _remotely_ related to magic and stuff. All they do is talk about clothes and watch... feminist movies... out of all things," Willow appeared deflated the more she spoke about the so called "Daughters of Gaia" Wicca group.

The Slayer quirked an eyebrow in response.

"Feminist movies?"

Willow sighed once more as she shrugged her shoulders again, "I mean, not that I am ever going to judge an all-female group for that, because _hello_, yay feminism... but it would be nice to float something bigger than a pencil, you know?" the hacker remarked with more than a hint of genial frustration.

The irritation coming from the redhead immediately gave Buffy a great idea, "Well... you know there's a frat party tonight at Lowell House. Riley's going to be there. And... and Graham'll be there too!"

"Graham?" the hacker wondered aloud.

"You know- Riley's friend! He seems nice and smart. So your type. And he's really cute! Hell, I might go out with him if Riley doesn't work out..." the Slayer mused out loud before turning around to finish straightening her thick blonde mane.

_'Oh.'_

It was then obvious that Buffy mistook Willow's general frustration with life for a more... intimate one.

_'God, I definitely don't want to deal with **that** right now.'_

"Um, Buffy... while I appreciate the get-Willow-out-of-her-comfort-zone-and-make-her-mingle shebang... I still... I still need time..." Willow glanced downward in shame as she finished her sentence in an almost inaudible whisper had it not been for the Slayer's heightened hearing.

_'Has it really been that long since he...'_

Willow instantly stopped the blooming thought as thinking about her ex-boyfriend had a strong grip on the hacker as she once again struggled to maintain her sudden volatile emotional state.

The Slayer ceased jumbling with the various articles of clothing as she heard Willow's subtle distress. She noticed the all too familiar glassy eyes and went over to comfort the hacker as the blonde sat next to Willow and rubbed the redhead's back for support.

"You still think about... Oz?" she gently inquired, knowing how much her best friend was still hurt from his abrupt departure. The Slayer herself hadn't quite yet forgiven the young werewolf for his previous misdeeds and the emotional damage that Willow had since suffered.

To Willow, it was difficult to even think about the reddish-haired man. Despite being heartbroken, Oz's treacherous cheating still gave the hacker the emotional equivalent of rough salt rubbing into an oozing wound. Whether the musician had the Wolf inside him or not, cheating was _not_ something that can just be swept under the carpet.

What's more, Willow's lingering hurt and pain always had that shattered trust with the vividly sharp image of him and that other werewolf Veruca naked together that overshadowed her grief. There was always that one doubt manifesting in her head since then that maybe... she was an inadequate lover after all.

Of course, not even a year ago, Oz and Cordelia had caught her and Xander kissing each other due to the homecoming "fluke"... so perhaps the Wolf was just an excuse to "get back" at the hacker.

_'Poetic justice, much?'_

"I mean, how can I not? Oz was my first boyfriend... and my first... everything. But after the whole Veruca thing... and him leaving... I don't know what to do. And... and I wish I could. I just feel... helpless," Willow was sniffling and trying so hard not to cry yet again this past week from the painful reminder.

_'Easier said than done.'_

However, Oz had not contacted her or any of the Scoobies since his abrupt departure almost three months ago. Willow's many letters to him were still in a small worn cardboard box underneath the redhead's bed, as if she was waiting for a response from her ex-boyfriend to just magically appear.

"Buffy... I'm gonna be alright. Really, I will. I just need a little more time, that's all," Willow wiped the tears away as her resolve face came back into full force and gave a little grin to the Slayer.

"Well, there you go! Soon, you'll be back to your normal self!" Buffy cheerfully responded as she stood up and began to try on the last of her jackets.

Willow raised an eyebrow to the Slayer's unusual cheeriness, "Uh, I don't think babbling like an spaz while floating pencils is considered normal in the real world, Buff."

The Slayer turned to her best friend with the widest grin on her face.

"Come on, Willow! It's the year 1999! The weirdos are in!" Buffy declared while pulling Willow into a tight hug.

The redhead giggled while embracing her best friend back. Sometimes, facing the hordes of demons and vampires was easier to deal with than exposing the vulnerable walls that only a lifetime of parental apathy and classmate bullying could build. It was always nice to have a best friend who could also kick ass and save the world like Buffy Summers.

Even if sometimes, she did have a one track mind...

* * *

_'Why is this haunting me now?'_

At the first crack of dawn, a blonde woman was trying to snag the last vestiges of yet another restless night. Since she was a young girl, she always had the flashes of red and green teasing her soul and it served as a faint reminder that perhaps there was still something worth living in this horrid world.

The first rays of sunlight pierced the murky windows and with no choice, she rose out of the vast bed to prepare for the day as she stretched the various aches and pains in her scarred body. A quick glance in the mirror revealed ashy blonde tangles requiring a massive amount of brushing and some concealer to hide the usual darkening circles underneath vividly blue eyes.

A faded yellow note was taped to the mirror that she didn't recall seeing up there and carefully ripped the tape off the mirror. She couldn't help a tiny grin curl up on her face as the tape was stuck to a sticky note with a crude drawing of a UFO and an alien waving back at her, as if realizing the irony of the situation. Upon further inspection, she inwardly chuckled at her old roommate's chicken scratch as she read the note to herself:

_Yo Tara! Thought you find my little drawing cute. Know you have that Wicca group meeting today. Don't let the shallow bitches get you down. Let's meet up for dinner at the Rocket Cafe! It's Taco Tuesday after all. Can't wait to see your latest project! Love ya always girl! _

_Tina :)_

The friendly note from her freshman roommate and current art therapy mentor brought a warmth to the blonde Wiccan before she felt the familiar sadness bringing her down, for she thought about her mother every day and the life they both endured on the farm in her hometown of Blue Springs, Alabama. It was a harsh eighteen years for the young woman as Tara often faced the angry hands of her big brother Donnie, and the equally stern apathy of her menacing father.

Tara was deep in thought about how often she practiced witchcraft in secret and the only one in Tara's family who supported her practicing craft was her mother, who had passed the gift on to her little girl. Linda Maclay was a great witch of her generation, and though she fell into the dark magics once upon a time, she had since learned her lesson and did her absolute best to teach her young daughter that magic was a precious gift and to never use it frivolously or against another life... for even with good intentions, the magic would consume an user until there was nothing left.

Shortly before her mother passed, Tara confessed to her that she could only love a woman. The sickly elder Maclay, of course, knew long before the shy blonde could even grasp the knowledge of love as Linda gently held Tara's shaking hand in affection and encouragement.

"You'll find her someday, my little Tara. And she'll find you..." and Linda Maclay finally embraced the sweet relief of death from the sickness of residual dark magic ravaging her vulnerable body. The grieving daughter bawled her heart out that night in relief that her mother was suffering no longer, and great fear swept through the blonde as she realized that she was no longer protected by the rest of her "family." She just couldn't do take this any longer...

_'Momma, please guide me for today in that I can use my gift for the greater good.'_

In the present day, Tara mentally shook her head to get rid of the haunting memories. There was no point in reminiscing on the old days when she was finally a free woman.

And she was going to make damn sure that it stays that way.

* * *

At the Rocket Café, Buffy was already consuming her third round of pancakes while Willow barely touched her first batch. She never much cared for pancakes unless they were made from scratch.

This was after a middle school mishap that had resulted in greenish-tinted pancakes with black burn spots and had since made Willow flee the scene like a bat out of hell whenever any mention of cooking was involved.

"Geez, Buff... you got somewhere to be?" the hacker smirked at Buffy's rapid eating.

Buffy glared at the redhead before suddenly gaining a fabulously evil idea at Willow's retort, "It's not my fault that we only have exactly three and a half minutes before we're counted late to Professor Walsh's class," the Slayer finished her sentence with a large air of smugness.

Willow's widening eyes of horror said it all.

"_What_?! Oh no! We gotta get to class!" the hacker panicked as she hurriedly finished her breakfast before taking off in a rush to the professor's class all the way on the other side of campus.

Buffy snickered at the sight of a disheveled Willow.

_'God, Willow's gonna be so mad at me when she finds out we're going to be forty-five minutes early.'_

As Willow unwittingly threw her garbage in the recycle bin and accidentally bumped into a highly startled Graham who barely uttered a "Hey..." before the redhead scurried off again, Buffy smiled widely.

_'Worth it.'_

* * *

As Willow rushed down the hallway out toward the campus grounds, she almost crashed into a nearby blonde girl, and yelled out a "Sorry! Late to class!" while the hacker kept galloping toward the other side of the campus. The shy blonde was mesmerized by the speeding redhead.

"Who was that g-girl?" she whispered in immense awe before realizing she spoke her thoughts out loud and blushed profusely as she received a few odd stares.

Meanwhile, a sauntering Buffy had the widest grin of _slightly_ evil on the planet.

"Can't wait to see the look of Willow's face when she finds out we're early," the petite blond wickedly snickered while making a 'shush' noise with her hand, instantly causing the other girl to giggle at Buffy's "evil" plot before they parted ways.

As the shy girl made her way to her experimental art therapy class, she couldn't stop thinking about the fiery-haired bombshell named Willow.

Damn, she was not going to focus today. But yet, she simply couldn't blame this Willow for her already infatuated mindset.

_'Willow. What a pretty name.'_

* * *

"Hi, Will!" Buffy cheerfully skipped over to the out-of-breath and now seething redhead as Willow instantly gave the Slayer a death glare.

"That was _not_ funny, Buff."

Buffy just laughed at Willow's impassioned answer, "Oh, but it was! You shoulda seen the look on your face!"

The blonde plopped over the huddled redhead who seemed to be typing something discreet on her laptop, "Whatca' writing?" Buffy began to peek before Willow slammed the computer shut.

"_God_, Buff! Does privacy mean anything to you?" Willow rolled her eyes while hiding a small grin.

"Absolutely not. So, is it a love letter? I didn't know you had it in you!" the Slayer covered her mouth in mock shock.

"No!" Willow's firm answer of discontent made the Slayer's eyebrows raise a tad. "I wish..." the hacker sighed.

Buffy scooted a little closer to the still noticeably miffed redhead, "I'm still saying you should go to that party tonight."

"Why? And make an ass outta myself with my awkwardness? That'll impress somebody real quick," Willow rolled her eyes exasperatedly.

"You never know, Will! Someone could literally bump into you and before you know it, love at first sight," Buffy grinned as she made goo-goo eyes at the ceiling.

Willow raised her eyebrow as a tiny snort escaped the hacker's lips, "You totally need a life outside of slaying and reading those romance novels, Buffy."

"And you need to get laid," Buffy simply retorted.

The hacker's jaw dropped open before shaking her head at the blonde's reply.

_'Got me good, didn't you? Just wait, I'm not gonna fall for anyone here.'_

"So uh... what were you writing?" Buffy's voice became serious again.

Willow sighed again. Buffy was just not going to let the issue drop.

"A letter to Oz..." was all the smaller girl could mumble in a wavering tone before deeply exhaling the bated breath.

Buffy then rubbed the hacker's back in support, "Another one?" the Slayer inquired with no judgement in her tone.

Willow nodded her head before frowning, "Maybe I _should_ stop. It's been what- a hundred days now?- since I last heard from him. I guess I should take the hint, huh?" the redhead leaned into her own hands in self-frustration and much guilt.

"It's gonna be alright, Will. No matter how bad something is, something good will always come out of it," Buffy beamed as her advice seemed to be taken to heart with the hacker.

Willow smiled a little, "You're right. Thanks, Buff..." as the Slayer squeezed her best friend again in a warm embrace. "That's what best friends are for!"

Time quickly sped up for the two girls as more of their classmates began making their way to the giant lecture room. A quick, sharp inhale from Buffy meant that Riley was jumbling the professor's keys to unlock the class.

Willow made eye contact with the teaching assistant. Upon feeling someone's gaze, Riley turned to face Willow's stare. A quick raise of the man's eyebrows was met with a subtle nod of Willow's head toward Buffy's general direction.

Riley got the message and took a deep breath, "Ah! So uh Buffy, are you ready for class?"

"I like cheese!" Buffy immediately blurted out as she only partially understood the man's sentence. The resulting statement had the man more confused than ever and approximately twenty pairs of eyeballs staring their way at a now flustered Slayer.

_'What the hell, Buffy?'_

Willow instantly groaned to herself as she rolled her eyes before face palming at her once again fruitless attempt to set the two up.

_'Why do I even bother?!'_

Willow then nudged a still embarrassed blonde and gave her a thumbs up to cheer up the Slayer despite her mistake. Buffy sheepishly smiled as they helped each other stand and make their way into the blistering chilly lecture room, because "one has to be able to tolerate uncomfortable conditions if one should focus in my class," as professor Walsh had so ever so bluntly put it when the Slayer asked why it was always freezing in the room.

Soon, the rest of the freshmen began to take up the spots in Professor Walsh's class while chatting amiably. A moment later, the professor herself entered the room and the lecture hall fell into immediate dead silence.

"Good morning, everyone," her tight-lipped smile conveyed anything but pleasant as she already began scribbling the day's lesson onto the old chalkboard.

"Good morning, professor Walsh..." the class responded with an almost instant obedience for they never wished to invoke the ire of the professor. The stern woman had the scarily rare gift of keeping her class silent with absolutely no effort on her part.

Willow glanced to her right to see her best friend already dozed off in the wooden seat. Shaking her head as she tried to nudge the Slayer awake with a few pen jabs before deciding to doodle a little smiley face with a stuck out tongue on the blonde's exposed arm, Willow finally conceded in defeat as she rolled her eyes while beginning to take notes on the upcoming midterm exam.

Once again, the Slayer had fallen asleep in Professor Walsh's class- a dangerous task indeed, for the wrath of a certain psych professor was _not_ to be taken lightly...

* * *

The last rays of the afternoon sun poured into the class, black lighting the students and washing the professor's face in rich amber as she spoke with an air of reverence. Buffy sat near the front, by Willow's eager scribbling. For some reason Riley stood by the side of the class appearing... on edge... as if he was furious at the professor... and at the world.

"So this is what it is. Talking about communication, talking about language. Not the same thing. It's about the way a child can recognize and produce phonemes that don't occur in its native language..." the professor paused for a moment to grant her students the privilege of writing brief notes of today's lecture.

She continued, using her aged hands to convey her articulate speech, "It's about inspiration, not the idea but the moment before the idea when it's total, when it blossoms in your mind and connects to everything, before the coherent thought that gives it shape, that locks it in and cuts it off from the universal. When you can articulate it, it becomes smaller. It's about thoughts and experiences that we don't have a word for."

Professor Walsh paused again, this time needing an example to actually instill the lesson to her students, "A demonstration. Buffy Summers."

The Slayer was stunned as she looked around her.

_'Me?'_

The professor gave a small smile at Buffy's hesitation, "Thank you for volunteering. Come down to the front here." After much pause, Buffy approached the professor and stood by her, awaiting further orders before Maggie then grasped Buffy's shoulders with an unnatural chill, making the Slayer feel highly uncomfortable.

"Typical college girl, one assumes," she called out to her class before turning to face the Slayer, "Lie down on my desk," she ordered to an unsure blonde.

Did Buffy hear her correctly?

"_What_?"

The professor gently shook her head,"Go ahead. You're perfectly safe."

Despite her embarrassment and some titters from the class, Buffy obeyed the professor's strange request and laid on her back, with elbows propped up as she waited for the next instruction.

Maggie turned her head at her best student to give a nod, "Riley. If you could oblige?"

The teaching assistant had moved from his spot, and seemed quietly angry at the professor, "A demonstration, right?"

Maggie gently admonished the young man, "Be a good boy," as Riley moved to around the back of the desk, standing by a now flustered Slayer.

"A kiss is just a kiss, I believe the line goes. The rest comes from you," Maggie declared to the class while Buffy and Riley look at the other in confused apprehension.

"This feels very strange," Buffy looked anywhere but at her crush as she felt more than a little uncomfortable with this particular demonstration.

Riley flashed a disarming smile meant to put the Slayer at ease, "Don't worry. If I kiss you, it'll make the sun go down."

He took her in his arms and in front of a sea of ogling students, they finally closed the gap as they kissed.

Just as the kiss was beginning to deepen, the light changed. The sun had gone down rapidly. As Buffy finally pulled away, it was suddenly dark; moonlight being the only illumination in the empty class.

"See?" the teaching assistant motioned toward the lecture hall and it's seemingly infinite emptiness.

Buffy's weary features carried a tight smile, "Fortune favors the brave..."

She stood up as Riley glanced at their bodies. He turned to her before she put her hand up.

Something was here. And they were not alone.

Very faintly, the sound can be made out. The noise seemed to have come from a little girl, humming tunelessly to herself.

"Do you hear that?" Buffy frowned as she cautiously exited the classroom. Riley watched her go, before grinning while whispering to himself,

"Along came a spider..."

Buffy moved slowly through the atrium toward the hall, led by the increasingly loud humming, which turned to become a nursery rhyme of some sort:

_"Can't even shout._

_Can't even cry._

_The Gentlemen are coming by._

_Looking in windows,_

_knocking on doors..._

_They need to take seven_

_and they might take yours..._"

Buffy turned the corner and saw the girl standing facing her at the other end of the hall. The little girl continued to sing the steadily creepy tune before Buffy noticed something in the girl's hands: a perfectly small square box, carved out of immaculate wood.

_"Can't call to mom._

_Can't say a word._

_You're gonna die screaming_

_but you won't be heard..."_

Riley came out as well wearing a worried expression on his face. He went to Buffy, and reached silently out to her before gently placing a hand on the Slayer's shoulder.

Buffy was highly confused but she shook her head to look back just in time-

A hideously stark white face with a massively wicked grin.

* * *

Buffy instantly sat up in the class more awake and alert than ever.

"So I'll see you all Monday for a final review session," Professor Walsh concluded the end of her class period, as the class busted about to grab their belongings and quickly file out of the large lecture room. Buffy was slowly getting her bearings.

_'Ok... add **that** to the list of wonderful-dream-that-somehow-went-into-ultra-creepy-nightmare-like-always territory I never want to experience again.'_

Willow was finishing depositing her books into her worn messenger bag and didn't notice Buffy's doubtful face, "Boy, that was an exciting class, huh?"

The Slayer was distracted and only picked up the last bit of Willow's overly eager sentence regarding the lesson.

"Oh yeah. Wow..." she brushed off the comment as she kept trying to contemplate the meaning of the so-called Gentlemen.

"And that last twenty minutes- it was a revelation. Just laid out everything we needed to know for the final. I'd hate to have missed that," Willow's ecstatic statement had the Slayer silently chuckle.

_'That's Will for ya, ladies and gentlemen. Always the eager beaver when it came to learning.'_

Buffy then immediately frowned at falling asleep in Professor Walsh's class again. How on earth does she _not_ get caught?

"Just tell me I didn't snore," she shuddered the thought to the hacker.

"You were very discreet. Minimal drool," Willow answered with an inconspicuous hand motion.

"Oh, yay."

They finally departed the classroom and rounded the corner to walk to the student center, "So, were you dreaming?" Willow finally noticed the many thoughts that Buffy was showing on her face.

The blonde shook her head at the vivid dream... and the frightening monster. What the hell was that? "Yeah, it was kind of intense..."

Riley chose the moment to fold in behind the women, figuring he could put in his two cents, "Intense? Really? 'Cause you seemed so peaceful," the burly fellow offered a warm smile to an increasingly blushing Slayer.

Buffy was slightly embarrassed at the handsome man's unflinching attention, "Of course it was only for a moment that-"

Riley waved his hand in genuine friendliness, "Right. You guys headed toward Kresge?" he motioned his head toward the door as the three of them continued to walk throughout the psych building.

"Student center," Buffy responded nonchalantly.

Riley smiled again at Buffy's answer, "Great! So, this dream..." he decided to tease the gorgeous blonde a little bit more.

Willow, sensing to give the two of them some alone time, stopped and waved her hand,"You know, you guys go, I'm gonna do the thing," she grinned widely at her best friend finally able to have some happiness in her life again, "I'll see you after the Wicca group," she waved to Buffy before departing.

"'Kay," Buffy smiled at Willow's intuition while an eager Riley waved back and closed his greeting with a warm "Bye".

As Buffy and Riley continue onward, Willow had a slight smirk as she snuck over to the arched window from the atrium to the hall to peek out at her favorite couple to be.

"So, tell me about your dream. As a psych major I'm qualified to go _Hmm_..." Riley's handsome appearance once again caught the Slayer off guard but she was determined to tease the man just a little bit more.

"I don't remember it all..." Buffy's smile conveyed anything but innocence to the teaching assistant and the man couldn't help a wider grin crack his face.

Riley gently nudged the Slayer, "Well, did I appear at all in this dream?"

"There may have been a cameo..." Buffy teased the professor's assistant and it only made Riley want to play their little back-and-forth game just a tad more.

"Is that right?" the towering soldier questioned while trying to hide his insecurity. Buffy honestly seemed like the perfect girl for him and he never felt as happy as he did now when he was able to glance at the blonde's genuine smile.

As they passed the arched window, the potential couple never noticed a certain Willow very subtly holding a worn _Computers and You_ textbook in front of her face.

Buffy continued to up the ante with her flirtations, "A featured role, actually."

It simply felt wonderful to be able to move on in her love life after Angel had ultimately left the Slayer "for her own good" as he not so subtly put it. The elder vampire was never particularly great at expressing his emotions, but he thought it be better for the both of them in the long run if they parted ways.

Perhaps after all this time, or maybe it was the sheer irony of the situation, a Slayer and a vampire could simply never live happily ever after.

Riley pulled Buffy out of her churning thoughts, "Romantic lead?" the man wiggled his eyebrows as he easily flirted with his crush.

Buffy blushed for a moment and looked away shyly before meeting the man's gaze with a hint of a smirk, "I'm not saying any more."

As they finally exit the building, Willow dropped the book and looked out after them with self-satisfaction.

_'Operation Get-Buffy-and-Riley-Together is a total success, ladies and gentlemen! Now accepting any and all applications for Get-Oz-Back-To-Willow.'_

Willow frowned a little at her sudden thought about her ex boyfriend, and was momentarily saddened from the grief before she shook her head and trudged to her final class of the day.

Meanwhile, Buffy and Riley had exited the lecture building and were walking down the sidewalk side by side before Riley decided to make the first move.

"So what have you got going on tonight?" the sun-kissed man inquired as he felt more and more pulled to the gorgeously spunky blonde.

"Patrolling," Buffy drawled without putting too much thought about her sentence.

Riley's features turned to utter confusion, "Patrolling?"

Buffy glanced to her right and the man's slightly raised eyebrows had instantly pulled her out of her little Riley-filled daydreams.

_'Shit!'_

"Uh, petroleum..." the Slayer trailed off lamely, feeling already horrible for lying to this seemingly decent man.

Riley didn't seem to buy it, "Petroleum?"

His skepticism made the blonde even more nervous than before. But she quickly covered the white lie with a tiny grin.

"Uh-huh!"

Her dazzling smile always had such a wondrous effect on the soldier as he released a small chuckle, "Tonight you have crude oil."

Buffy's plan had worked and she internally exhaled a great relief, "And homework..." the Slayer sighed wistfully at she cringed at the vast amount of work she had to finish tonight before tacking on, "what about you?"

Riley mused to himself for a brief moment as he felt the weight of Buffy's question sink in to him. How was he supposed to tell her that he's part of an underground military organization who's entire purpose was to hunt down demons and perform unethical experiments on them?

_'Yeah, that'll go over real well...'_

Still, Buffy had no reason to lie, right?

And there was no need to reveal his secret. Not yet anyway.

"Oh, you know, grading papers..." he trailed off not really sure what else to say to the petite woman.

The Slayer turned her head at the man and barely caught the tail end of his statement, "Well, that'll be fun."

Riley cracked a minuscule grin, "Not 'petroleum' fun, but it passes the time..." as the Slayer blushed hotly at hearing the mirthful tone.

They finally stopped by the wall, and the pair had truly locked eyes for the first time.

Buffy was the first to say something, "So I'll..." she trailed off as the blonde dropped her gaze to the man's lips.

Riley had noticed the eye drop, for he couldn't stop staring at the blonde's lips as well, "I guess I won't see you till..."

"Yeah..."

They aren't aware of the closeness, as they kept leaning subtly forward toward the other's lips...

A sudden thought pulled Buffy out of her trance-like state, "What papers?"

Riley immediately opened his eyes.

"Papers?"

Buffy didn't let up on the issue and was slightly confused on what other homework she might have missed, "Grading what papers? There's just the final coming up."

Riley finally got the hint, "Oh. Yeah..." he sighed about having to lie again before he continued, "No, some late... papers."

Buffy had seemed to accept this, "Oh. Okay, neat."

"Right. So..." Riley frowned at completely blowing a potential moment with his crush and internally cursed himself for his own ineptitude.

Buffy inwardly face-palmed as she too had totally ruined the moment between her and Riley, "Class."

"I'll see you then," Riley mused before the two parted toward their respective dorms, both completely unsatisfied by the closing.

_'Dammit, Buffy...'_

Buffy had taken a few steps away before muttering in displeasure, "Fortune favors the brave..." before rolling her eyes, and sulking toward her intro to college algebra class. The brief flashes of her nightmare had the Slayer glance to a nearby phone booth.

_'Need to make a quick phone call first...'_

* * *

**SMACK!**

"_Ow_!" Xander Harris whined quite girlishly compared to his towering stature as he rubbed the back of his head, "What'd you do _that_ for?"

Anya Jenkins placed her hands on her hips, lips curled in utter contempt. She was unhappy with her boyfriend and needed to voice her complaints immediately.

"You're not paying attention to me, Xander! I'm supposed to be the center of your world and everything! I'm _not_ a cheap slut you can just use like this!"

Xander instantly raised his hands defensively, "Whoa! Hey! Where did I give you _that_ idea?!"

The former vengeance demon shook her finger in a menacing direction toward the confused man, "Last night at approximately 9:37 when I said "Hey honey, let's try this new position where you'd dangle your-"

"Anya!" Xander sharply interrupted before adopting a gentler tone, "I told you I had a very long shift yesterday, and I didn't want to... you know... disappoint you or anything."

Anya of course took this the wrong way.

"So all I am to you is just _sex_?!"

Xander promptly placed his head in his hands. "That's literally _not_ what I said, An..." his voice was barely made out over his hands covering his face.

**"Alexander!"**

Xander instantly stood up in great fear.

"Someone on the phone for ya! Hurry up boy! I don't have all goddamn day!"

Xander sighed in relief that only his mom was present in the house.

"Oh thank god, a welcomed distraction..." the dark-haired man muttered to himself, to which a seething Anya heard.

"Don't think I didn't hear that! And we are not finished with this conservation, mister!" she angrily shook her fist as her boyfriend trudged up the basement stairs.

Xander was currently ignoring his girlfriend's rant as he cautiously approached the kitchen, "What's up, mom?"

Jessica Harris was busy opening her fifth bottle of Miller Light today with a dented bread knife, "Some fancy asshat was callin' and askin' for ya. Don't know why anyone'd bother to call for your ungrateful ass in the first place..." she bared her teeth as the bottle cap refused to budge.

"Was it Giles?" Xander, by now used to his mother's ranting, inquired as gently as he could, knowing how quickly his mother could fly off the handle.

Which given the amount of rage the portly woman was putting into the stuck cap, it wasn't gonna be long.

Jessica finally managed to free her bottle as the cap flew off in a flash, denting yet another wall in the kitchen.

"I don't know and I don't _fuckin'_ care! Just said for you to stop by his place. Got it?"

Despite being almost a foot shorter than Xander, Jessica's constant rage whenever she was sober enough had Xander cower in slight terror as he nodded vigorously. before swallowing audibly, "Got it. Message received."

Jessica snarled again as her ungrateful son shuffled back to the basement, "And don't forget to do the fuckin' dishes before you leave! They've been sitting out for the last five weeks! Ya goddamn freeloader..." she uttered venomously.

* * *

At a nearby affluent apartment complex, Rupert Giles sat at his table, chatting with his Slayer on the phone as he hastily scribbled notes with one hand, while the other kept a tight grip on his tarnished glass of single-malt scotch.

"Can't even shout, can't even cry... the Gentlemen are coming by..." the former Watcher mused as the Slayer recalled the dream to him, "It sounds vaguely familiar -you're sure you never heard this as a child?"

He continued to listen as he pulled a nearby tome to search for possible clues, "All right... and the girl was holding a box. Nothing else?"

The Slayer kept mentioning the monster from her dream, that it was unlike anything she'd ever seen before.

Giles was deep in thought. From what his Slayer relayed to him, the so-called Gentlemen, whoever it is, could present a substantial problem.

Still, he didn't want Buffy to be all worried if it's only a nightmare and nothing else, "Well, it certainly could be one of your prophecy dreams, or it could just be the eternal mystery that is your brain. I'll check it out, let you know if I come up with anything. B'bye..." Giles expressed his departing greetings before he hung up the phone and overlooked his extensive notes. He never heard of such a group in his entire life, and he needed assistance from someone who's had considerable experience with the forces of darkness.

"Have you ever heard of a group call the Gentlemen?"

Moments later, Spike sauntered into the kitchen and was currently rummaging through some cupboards with his mouth stuffed with crackers.

"Group a what?" Spike was too busy trying to swallow all the cracker remnants with a loud crunching.

Giles sighed audibly, "The Gentlemen."

"Don't know 'em..." Spike kept ransacking throughout the kitchen

Giles took off his glasses to polish them as usual, "You're certain?"

"No," the bleach blond vampire was too distracted to properly listen to Giles' question as a more important matter demanded the ex-Watcher's urgent attention, "We're out of Weetabix."

Giles crossed over to the shelf behind his couch, and rolled his eyes.

"We are out of Weetabix because you ate it all. _Again_."

Spike was less than pleased with this news.

"Get some more," he curtly replied while stuffing his mouth with more crackers.

"I thought vampires were supposed to drink blood."

Spike sauntered to the couch with his pile of crackers and promptly leapt over the couch to lay down.

"Yeah, well sometimes I like to crumble up the Weetabix in the blood. Gives it a little texture," the chipped vamp kept munching on his crackers as he expected Giles to just get up and go to the store to pick up his groceries.

Giles instantly pulled an unimpressed and disgusted face, "Well, since the picture you've just painted means I will never touch food of any kind again, I'm afraid you'll have to pick it up yourself..." he tried not to shudder at the cursed image of blood curdling with the Weetabix swimming in his mind before he adjusted his highly polished frames on his rugged face.

Spike gave a little unseen smirk to the repulsed man.

"Sissy."

* * *

Meanwhile, Xander and Anya entered through the courtyard, headed for Giles' apartment.

However, the argument from earlier persisted.

"Again, I don't get where this is coming from," Xander shook his head in discontent at hearing his girlfriend's unceasing ranting for the last two hours.

The blond huffed while placing her hands at her hips, "Well, what am I _supposed_ to think?"

Xander halted the both of them, "How can you say I'm "using" you?" he bewilderingly asked while making the air quotation marks for "using".

Anya sighed exasperatedly, "You don't care about what I think, you don't ask about my day..."

"You really _did_ turn into a real girl, didn't you?" Xander had a tiny smirk on his lips which did not go unnoticed by Anya.

"_See_?" the ex-demon pointed it out as if it were obvious, "And you make jokes during my pain. You don't care about me at all..." Anya stomped her foot as she tried to hide the quivering in her tone.

The dark-haired man witnessed the minute distress in his girlfriend's brash attitude and made an effort to demonstrate how much he liked her.

"I do care about you," Xander's firm stance hoped that Anya would noticed the rarely seen assertiveness in the man.

She wasn't buying it.

"How much?"

Xander was suddenly quite thrown by his girlfriend's question as he kept searching for an answer, further irritating the ex-demon as Anya then promptly demanded a truthful response, "What do _I_ mean to you?"

"Well, I... we, you know, we spend... we'll talk about it later," he finished uncertainly before opening the door and scurry through to escape his steadily rising issues with commitment.

Anya, however, refused to drop it.

"I think we should talk about it _now_!"

Giles, by now used to his "children's" severe lack of manners, gave the bickering couple the typical eye-roll, "Thank you for _knocking_-"

Xander ignored the ex-Watcher's snide remark as he continued deflecting the argument from him to his girlfriend, "If you don't know how I feel about-"

"I don't! This _isn't_ a relationship." Anya all but bellowed to the large man, suddenly making him feel fragile, "You don't need me! All _you_ care about is lots of _orgasms_!" the ex-demon finished with a huff.

The argument died down just as quickly as it flared up. Giles was attempting to make himself appear busy despite the magenta brightening his cheeks while a stunned Spike rose from the couch, half-eaten cracker still in his mouth, and simply raised an eyebrow at the odd couple.

Meanwhile, Xander admonished Anya as gently as he could while fighting the familiar blush adding some considerable color to his pale features, "Ok, remember when we talked about _private_ conversations? And how they're less private when they're in _front_ of my friends?"

Spike then smirked as he knew the monkey boy was in serious trouble now, "Oh, we're not your friends..." he seemed to have enjoy the awkward scene in front of him despite earning a hard glare from the dark-haired man.

"Go on," he egged a contempt Anya in an attempt to once again instigate trouble since he was no longer able to create chaos and mayhem with the stupid government chip deeply embedded in his brain.

"Please don't," Giles practically begged the bickering couple to quit their useless arguing, more for his sake than anyone else's.

Anya stomped her foot as she whined, "This is important!"

"Yes. But why is it _here_?" the ex-Watcher in frustration, wanting nothing more right now than utter peace and quiet.

Xander quickly got back on track, "Mom said you wanted me to swing by."

"Oh," Giles sputtered as he knew the three of them were not going to like what he was proposing, "Yes, well I meant after sundown. I need you to take Spike for a few days."

"_What?!_" Xander, Spike, and Anya simultaneously bellowed in great frustration. Anya's features contorted in anger as Xander's jaw dropped open in total disbelief that Giles would even ask him this ludicrous request.

"I'm _not_ staying with _him_!" Spike howled indignantly.

Giles was not having it, "I have a friend coming to town and I'd like for us to be alone."

Anya immediately knew the answer, "Oh. You mean an orgasm friend," the ex-demon nonchalantly replied with a slight snark in her tone. At least _someone_ was getting some tonight.

Giles closed his eyes in irritation of the ex-demon's complete lack of social norms, "Yes, that's _exactly_ the most appalling thing you could have said."

"Worse than the blood in the Weetabix?" the chipped vamp retorted in a much more noticeable caustic tone.

Defeated, Giles sank back into his chair as everyone argued over each other.

"He's _not_ roaming around," Xander snarled before crudely pointing at the vamp, "If he stays with me he gets tied up again."

Anya was not happy with this compromise, "What about us? Our romantic evening?"

Spike wasn't having it either.

"I'm not having these two _shag_ while I'm tied to a chair three feet away!"

"That's _not_ exactly one of my fantasies either." Xander rolled his eyes as he huffed in disapproval.

This was the proof Anya needed.

"So you're blowing off our evening. Because you don't care about me."

Xander knew how bad this must have looked to his girlfriend, "I don't _want_ him to come over! Talk to the Brit!" he motioned to a griping Giles not so subtly banging his head on the desk.

"He better have cable 'cause I'm _not_ missing Passions," Spike refused to budge unless the monkey boy could meet his exact accommodations.

Meanwhile, Giles finally stood up to pour himself yet another glass of scotch.

_'This is just my life: my children bickering over a neutered vampire and noisily discussing such taboo topics, and all I wanted was just some bloody peace and quiet.'_

* * *

Finished with her introduction to management information systems course for the day, Willow headed to the Stevenson Hall student lounge for the Daughters of Gaia Wicca Group meeting. The crisp December air forced the hacker to button up her tawny leather jacket as she involuntary shivered.

_'I really hope we can practice some magic today. I've been dying to do some conjuring spells.'_

It's been too long since casting her last spell that was somewhat beneficial. The most recent one where she accidentally almost killed her friends because of her own selfish reasons didn't exactly count.

The budding witch was also aching to do something productive besides constant studying and the occasional patrolling with the Slayer. Since Buffy was busy trying to pursue Riley, while her other best friend Xander was with Anya the ex-demon all the damn time, Willow honestly felt... kind of lonely. And being lonely equals depressing thoughts about Oz and her absentee parents and just life in general.

_'Hmm... maybe I should give Cordelia a call...'_

The irony that Willow thought about calling someone who she once considered her worst enemy... was not lost on her.

_'Although Cordy does give good, if not unnecessary, fashion advice... and I do need a new look...'_

She glanced at the various papers on the student information board nearby and a harsh yellow card blared peer tutoring at the hacker's face.

_'Hmm. Eleven dollars an hour starting... not bad. I'll have to consider that. I always need more money for magic supplies. And school supplies. And food... supplies. Mind, why are you babbling in my head? Stop it.'_

For the most part, Willow enjoyed being a top freshman at UCSD... it was how she was able to earn the coveted UC Sunnydale Presidential Scholarship for the ultra demanding double major of computer science and computer engineering. She also received an acceptance letter from Harvard, Yale, and even Oxford earlier last summer based on her superior academic abilities, but to her- it was more important that she stayed here in her hometown and help Buffy save Sunnydale, and the world in general, from the active Hellmouth underneath the library of a completely former and thankfully ruined Sunnydale High School.

Of course, that nasty argument with her parents, particularly her mother, stemmed from the thought that she wouldn't get far in life if she didn't go to Oxford, and hence still be a waste of space in their house. If she didn't felt like a trophy daughter before, she felt like it now.

To this day, her mother's harsh words about 'how low she fallen since hanging around with that Bunny Summers' left a lingering bitter taste in the redhead's mouth.

* * *

"This is absolute _bullshit_!"

Anya was seething that despite the vehement argument shaking Giles' apartment, Spike still had to be dragged along with them.

Needless to say, the three of them were less than enthused about the outcome.

"Hey, I'm the one that has to deal with him! You get to go home to your apartment after this," Xander slapped a hand to his head in pure frustration.

Spike refused to be considered of being "dealt with", "Uh, excuse me? Standing _right_ here, you _nit_!"

Both Xander and Anya ignored Spike's incessant whining as they stared down hard at the other.

"Xander, don't you care about me?" Anya's outrage barely veiled the hurt laced in her voice.

Xander noticed what was about to happen as he silently pleaded her not to go off in public. Again.

"I do! I really do. I've just been really busy with all this work, and please understand that I'm doing all of this for you."

Anya failed to understand the social cue as her bellowing was attracting more than a few curious stares, "But we _never_ talk! All we do is just have lots of orgasms together! A relationship is more than just sex, no matter _how_ good your penis is!"

Xander briefly closed his eyes and inwardly sighed.

_'And she did it again anyway.'_

Not bothering to cover his intense blushing, Xander begged for a quieter response, "An, please... we're in public and we have a guest. However unwelcoming..." he trailed off in thinly disguised disgust for the chipped vamp.

Spike put a hand to his heart in mock-shock, "_I'm_ a guest? How bloody touching."

Anya ignored the vamp's snide comment as she glared at her boyfriend before she instantly sulked off.

"Where you going?" Xander called off after her.

Anya plugged her ears with her fingers as she sung out loud in a totally off-key voice, "La la la, not listening to you!" before she turned the corner to her nearby apartment.

Xander could only watch helplessly before he placed his head in his callused hands.

Despite chaos and general mayhem being his favorite pastime, Spike began to feel uncomfortable with the tense emotions in the air and he attempted to comfort the weary man as he set a pale hand on the burly man's shoulders with the barest touch.

"Don't worry about her, monkey boy. She'll come around the bend. More for shagging if anything else."

Xander raised his head and gave the vamp a withering death glare.

_'Fuck my life.'_

* * *

Willow arrived early as usual in the lounge and she sat in the first available empty chair. No one was here yet, save for one blonde girl, who Willow instantly recognized as the one she bumped into earlier.

To the redheaded witch, it almost looked like the other girl was trying to make herself as small as possible. The blonde was kneeling on a purple mat and had her eyes closed and murmuring a saying that Willow couldn't quite hear, but was sure that she was praying for a miracle.

_'Hmm... she looks so shy... and powerful...'_

Willow stared a little longer than what's necessary for a stranger before shaking her head and resting her own eyes.

Within minutes, the majority of the seemingly shallow Wicca members joined the circle, greeting each other with an annoyingly optimistic yet fraudulent attitude, while obviously ignoring Willow and the other girl.

_'Yep. Time to begin...'_

Despite her best efforts, the hacker was having quite a difficult time trying to concentrate in the Wicca group. Of course, this was only the second meeting, but when would they actually get to the part about magic and spells and stuff? If she has to hear that damn blessing one more time, she'll do something... moderately rude.

The first Wicca, a curly ginger girl named Nicole, began the usual blessing, "We come together, Daughters of Gaia, sisters to the moon. We walk with the darkness, the wolf by our side. Through the waterfall of power, to the blackest heart of Eternity..."

_'Come on, come on, come on...'_ Willow mentally rolled her eyes. Though the redhead was infamously known for her great impatience, this was truly frustrating for a budding witch such as herself and she honestly doesn't know how much longer this can go on without her babbling about how useless this "blessing" is and to actually get started with real spells.

The blessing concluded, Willow was just about to say something when-

"I think we should have a bake sale," Nicole finished with a upbeat note.

_'Wait. What?'_ All the wheels stopped turning in Willow's mind as she jerked her eyes open.

"I don't know..." a second girl mumbled uncertainly.

"I mean, you like a bake sale, right? We need money for the dance recital. And you know I do an empowering lemon bundt," Nicole inquired the crowd as a whole.

_'Are you kidding me? A dance recital? This IS the Wicca group right? I for one wasn't aware of joining the Girl Scouts... or the adult equivalent of Girl Scouts rather.'_ Willow's mind continued to wander. The hacker wanted to practice defensive spells, create things out of magic, and just maybe learn how to dust a vamp without relying on Buffy as much.

Because she sure as hell didn't want to sell cookies... or any baked goods really, no matter how delicious those infamous thin mints were- she had enough of that crap from middle school.

_'Empowering lemon bundt my butt. Well, it's really no wonder we haven't covered anything even remotely witchy, if all they are... are just wanna blessed-be's.'_

Cheryl, the raven-haired leader of the group with the sharp face of a hawk, interceded, "The most important thing is the Gaia Newsletter. We need to get the message of blessing out to the sisters. Also, who left their scented candles dripping _all_ over my womyn-power shrine?"

_'Oh my god- who cares! I could care less about dance recitals and bake sales and newsletters. What. The. Hell.'_ Willow mentally sighed in frustration; this was truly a waste of time on her part.

_'But would it hurt to ask about the spells? I swear, if they give me any crap about finding myself...'_

Willow finally decided to put in her two cents, "Well this is good, this is all fun... a bake sale, some baked goods... but there's also other stuff... that we might show interest in... as a Wicca group..."

Nicole and Cheryl eyed Willow suspiciously, as if this redhead brazenly challenged the 'Wiccan Way.' Nicole gave a blank stare to the redhead as the ginger spoke almost hesitatingly, "Like what?"

"Well, there's the wacky notion of spells..." Willow began before she was rudely interrupted by Cheryl staring her down.

"Well you missed last week, we did a healing chant for Brittany's ankle, she said the swelling went right down," Cheryl pointedly remarked.

"What was she doing on a mountain bike _anyway_?" an incredulous Nicole quizzed the Wicca group leader, to which Cheryl's nasal tone had a haughty reply, "She was trying to impress Justin."

Annoyed, and strongly tempted to actually roll her eyes this time, Willow persisted, "I was actually talking more about real spells you know. You know: conjuring, transmutation..."

It was at this point that the one girl kneeling, a beautiful but reclusive witch named Tara, who up until this moment, refused to make eye contact with anyone, glimpsed up at the redhead with definite awe and possible infatuation. There was just _no_ way that the fiery-haired, courageously bold, and indeed, quite gorgeous girl she bumped into earlier was a witch too... right?

Honestly, Tara was about to give up going to the Wicca group after the first two meetings consisted of nothing but mere chatter and... feminist movies... out of all things. Not that she would ever judge the all-women group for their own personal beliefs, because... yay feminism, but seeing the redhead, and her instant crush if she could be honest with herself, being harassed about witchcraft, despite this group being a so-called Wiccan organization, she decided to speak and defend the smaller girl.

If only she could ever get the chance to actually speak...

"Oh yeah, and then we can all get on our broomsticks, and ride around our broomsticks!" Cheryl declared while the rest of the group save for Willow and the shy girl were laughing at the hacker's ridiculous claim.

Willow was astounded by how... pretentious these wannabe Wicca's were to her.

_'At least the shy girl didn't laugh at me...'_

Nicole added insult to injury, "You know, certain stereotypes are not very empowering..."

_'And again. Why do I always think that college students would be more mature than this...'_ Willow was becoming quite irate with the faux witches.

Tara decided this was her time to shine, "I think that-"

"One person's energy can suck the power right out of the circle... no offense," Cheryl refused to acknowledge the Tara's attempt to speak as she continued to berate Willow. Tara had bowed her head down again out of shyness.

_'Yeah right...'_

Willow did indeed roll her eyes this time at the pretentious wannabe while wondering what the shy girl had to say- the redhead kinda noticed that this blonde was glancing- well staring, more like- at her throughout the whole meeting.

_'The girl kinda reminds me of who I was in high school- maybe I should talk to her after this damn meeting. See if she's ok. Hey, wait a minute... Did they just insult my energy? Oh hell no! Willow Rosenberg is about to counterattack! Fight fire with fire! Verbally of course.'_

"No, no, my energy's always very... you really don't do any spells, do you guys?" Willow sighed deeply while raising an eyebrow.

The group glanced at each other as if Willow was the biggest loser in the world.

_'Good to know I won't get shit done here.'_ Willow's frustration was clearly evident in her demeanor and energy. Tara was easily able to read the smaller girl's aura like an open book, with the immediate reading coming from the hacker astonishing Tara. Willow's aura was a unique blend of yellow and blue- yellow often meaning a razor-sharp intelligence with a high compassion for all forms of life while blue revealed honesty and utmost clarity. Tara prized honesty and kindness above all else.

"Well, m-m-m-maybe-" Tara once again tried to speak up; she wanted to let Willow know she wasn't like the others, but seeing as she'll get shut down again, she simply trailed off.

Cheryl noticed this however and immediately put her in the spotlight as she uttered pointedly, "Yeah? Tara? Guys, quiet! Do _you_ have a suggestion?"

Completely embarrassed and intimidated by the sudden attention, the poor blonde just smiled and shook her head.

For some reason, Willow was very livid at how they wannabe Wiccans were treating Tara.

_'Tara- what a pretty name. I definitely need to talk to her.'_

But Willow still couldn't figure out why she was so angry.

_'Perhaps Tara is the college version of me when I was in high school? A much more powerful and intelligent and sexier version- wait **WHAT**?!'_ The wheels rolled to a screeching halt in Willow's mind.

_'Where did **THAT** word come from?'_

Cheryl, being smug now that she has won the "argument" once again, decided to continue onward, "Ok then. Let's talk about the theme for the Bacchanal."

_'Well, no point in coming back here again...'_ Willow sighed inwardly as there was simply no reasoning with the Wicca wannabes. She was so disappointed and she really wanted someone to practice magic with. If only-

Tara continued to stare at Willow, sympathizing with her internal turmoil.

Feeling a second pair of eyes on her, Willow then gazed upward at Tara and the instant their eyes locked: sky blue meeting jade green- a spark of some kind was created. It almost felt like...magic. And very powerful magic at that. Only... there was something more.

_'Wait a minute... why does she look familiar?'_

Willow had recognized Tara from somewhere, but she couldn't quite place it...

Normally, Tara would look away the moment someone established eye contact with her, but for some reason, with Willow- it felt so... right.

_'I recognize her from somewhere... have I met her before?'_ Tara was trying to figure out where they might have met. Although, since Tara had escaped from Alabama almost a year ago, she honestly hasn't really said two words to anyone since she fled to Sunnydale.

Even Tina was stuck on how to get Tara out of her shell and "Get down and get on with the lady-lovin'!" as the often stoned and tipsy obsidian-haired girl liked to bellow out in public much to Tara's chagrin.

The lack of friends growing up save for one bold brunette who moved in the middle of their eighth grade year also had its' effect on the timid witch, for the blonde was constantly teased for her disheveled appearance, how she spoke with quite a noticeable stutter, and for being classed as the 'weird lesbo'.

Willow gave her a look of sympathy and understanding that said it all-

_'I get that all the time too.'_

She then smiled at the blonde, wanting to be friendly as she could be to this stranger.

_'She's not a stranger though... I know her, I seen that face before...'_

Tara's blush colored her pale cheeks but she couldn't help giving Willow a small yet definite smile as well.

_'Her eyes remind me of that dream I had last night. And all those nights before...'_

Even though the group was droning on and on, to Willow and Tara, they honestly... didn't seem to mind. By some unknown force- they needed to see each other again. Willow wondered what this force could be...

For what seemed like an eternity, it was finally four in the afternoon- the meeting was adjourned and the Wicca Group was giving the same "blessing" when they first opened the meeting.

_'Yep, definitely useless.'_ Willow mentally rolled her eyes at the obvious fact.

"Farewell, sisters! Remember to take part for the Gaia Newsletter. Dance recital is this Saturday at three!" Cheryl called out to the departing members.

_'Well, thank god the meeting's over- I thought they were never gonna stop berating me. Well, I guess it didn't matter after they were discussing about some sort of party. All I can think about is going over to that shy girl, Tara. In fact, I'll do that right now. Newsletter be dammed.'_

Willow cautiously approached Tara, who was casually looking at the various papers on the student board, knowing that if Willow even said "Boo", the poor blonde will run away in fright.

"Um, hi? Tara, right?" Willow gently inquired the shy girl.

Sure enough, a startled Tara turned around and had the proverbial expression of a 'deer caught in headlights'- it was immediately obvious that no one has ever approached her before, at least not willingly, or as friendly as Willow was trying to be.

"Uh... h-h-h-hi... you must b-be W-w-willow..." she had a nervous lilt in her voice and silently cursed her accompanying stutter as the intensity of the redhead's eyes made the blonde shyly look away.

_'Why must I stutter so damn much?'_

Willow however, found Tara's stutter absolutely adorable, for the blonde's shyness had a nostalgic effect on the hacker and brought her back to her sophomore year of high school, with Buffy introducing herself to Willow.

_'And now I'm the one introducing myself to someone who was once like me...'_

This mostly explained why she wished to be friends with the blonde.

But there was something more, and she couldn't place her finger on it...

Content with being a potential friend for now, Willow gave an easy smile as she nodded in confirmation of her name, "Indeed I am! Will's the name! Well actually, my full name is Willow Danielle Rosenberg. But my friends just call me Will or Willster or Babbler. Cause I babble a lot... obviously. But, I'm really sorry about the attention those wannabe Wicca's thrown at you- I totally get that feeling. I just... I just wanted to learn some new spells because I'm on a mission...to..." Willow suddenly trailed off from her rambling antics- she wasn't sure if she should share Scooby-type stories with this new girl. At least not yet anyway.

Tara was internally beaming with joy that this beautiful Willow was having an actual conversation with her, but then she noticed her halted speech, which made Tara more than a little nervous.

"A m-m-mission... for w-what?" the blonde cautiously asked a pensive Willow.

Now it was Willow's turn to look like the deer caught in headlights.

_'Shit, how can I get out of the babble-hole now? Heh. Babble-hole. Damn it, Rosenberg! Focus!'_

"Well, there's a lot of weird things going around here in Sunnydale, and I know Sunnydale isn't much to look that, but I'm kinda fond of not seeing... weird stuff? God, I'm not even making any sense-" Willow became frustrated at her vain attempt to not sound like a crazed lunatic.

Tara, noticing Willow's internal struggle, gave a little giggle. The redhead was just so adorable.

"W-Willow, it's o-ok. I u-understand," Tara gave the smaller girl a slightly lopsided but warm smile.

Willow felt as if nothing else in the world mattered right now- just seeing Tara's smile made her melt... in a positive still-alive way of course. Seeing that Tara could potentially be a powerful ally to the Scoobies, she eased her way into the conversation some more with regards to magical defenses.

"I know that you were trying to defend me at the meeting, and I felt your energy, all good and stuff... so I wanted to ask you if you knew any spells that could be useful for a... fighting situation...?" Willow sheepishly muttered as she ran her fingers through her brightly auburn locks.

The wheels in Tara's head turned.

_'Fighting?! Fighting what?!'_

And suddenly she was worried about the redhead- she didn't even want to know if Willow ever got in a fighting situation. And since when could someone feel her energy? She consistently tried to conceal the nature of it- lest her demon side would show at the most inopportune of times...

"L-l-like actual... o-offensive s-spells?" Tara calmly inquired because deep down, she was full of dreadful worry- a worry for the redhead who she's instantly infatuated with, coupled with a steadily rising panic that her energy had revealed itself again...

Damn, she was trying so hard-

Interrupting Tara's darkening thoughts, Willow pressed onward, "_Yes_! I mean, possibly yes- but I myself am _not_ doing the fighting... at least not willingly. Because I'm such a spaz. And spaz plus fighting equals bad idea. I'm more looking for defensive spells. You know what they say- the best offense is a good defense! Wow... that was lame... please stop me."

Out of sheer relief for her crush, Tara couldn't help but giggle again at Willow's attempt of a joke. It was then she noticed an arc of a thin scar on her neck- a small one, but still noticeable if in the right light.

_'I wonder where she got that scar...'_ Tara gazed at that mark. She had to admit, the whole "chicks dig scars" stereotype was surprisingly true for her. Especially when the scar belonged to the brightest green eyes she had ever seen before. And that delicious looking neck-

_'Whoa, stop right there, Maclay. You don't even know if she's gay. And even if she was, why would she be with you?'_ An inside voice issued a stern warning to the hopelessly infatuated Wiccan.

_'But still, such beautiful eyes...'_ Tara gazed dreamily at them.

_'Wow. She actually laughed at my horrible joke. And that laugh is absolutely amazing. So cute- Cute? What in the world...?'_ Willow's never ceasing thoughts have always confused her but now, it was like straight up what-the-hell mode.

Still, it felt so great and wonderful to meet someone new. Someone cool. Someone who actually... gets her. Willow then glanced at the nearby wall clock- she had to go meet Buffy soon.

"Anyway, I have to get ready to meet Buffy. She's my best friend and also roommate. Isn't that cool? She's trying to get with this cute guy, and she needs to tell me all about it. But, maybe... we should meet up later?" Willow's tone conveyed hopefulness and briefly wondered if she was appearing as too eager.

"S-s-sure, Willow. T-that would be great," Tara smiled brightly.

"Great! See you later, Tara. Oh, and I think your name is very pretty," Willow grinned and waved at the taller girl before departing.

Tara blushed at Willow's compliment. She was smiling widely and waved back.

"Bye, W-willow..." Tara sighed dreamily to herself.

_'Yep. Totally and completely head over heels with Willow Danielle Rosenberg. And I honestly don't give a damn.'_

Sitting back down in the lounge area, Tara drafted a blank sheet from her sketchbook and painstakingly sketched out the vivid essence of a womanly face. She made sure the details were perfect, right down to the bright green eyes shining at her and the almost minute freckles on a certain redhead's nose.

As she finalized out her drawing of Willow happily staring in the distance with her left hand supporting her face and her right hand over her various notebooks, Tara began to sing softly to herself.

_"What is this greatness I'm feeling?_

_The Goddess just stole my heart_

Tara gave a final glance at the departing redhead and a slight blush highlighted her cheeks again she caught herself staring at Willow's firm bottom.

_I never felt so breathless,_

_For such a work of art_

The beaming blonde stood up and seemed to have skipped down the hallway in pure joy.

_Now I'm feeling much more,_

_Happier than ever before..._

Despite catching more than a few curious stares, Tara could care less about how she appeared, for she's never felt this happy in her entire life.

_I'm under your spell_

_No one else will do,_

_I just willed my heart to you._

_Your eyes brighten my life,_

_Oh Gaia, show me the way-_

_I need to see her emeralds today..."_

As she joyfully finishes the tune to her song while closing the door to her single room, her greatest work was done- the portrait of Willow is complete. On top of the sketch was a title written in gorgeous cursive: Under Your Spell

Tara gently sighed as she reverently touched the portrait, more detailed than anything she's ever sketched before. She's never fallen this hard or this fast for anyone in her life, but for once in her young life, she knew that she made the right decision in falling for Willow.

_'I finally know you now. The beautiful woman in the dreams I've had since I was a little girl. Once I was lost... but your emerald green eyes have found me. Do you not know I was born to love you? You're the one, Willow.'_

* * *

"So, not stellar, huh?"

Buffy and Willow had came up the stairs in Stevenson Hall, where the usual crowd shuffled around the lounge to discuss the latest party with the most kegs.

The redhead threw her hands up in sheer frustration, "_Talk_! All talk: blah blah Gaia, blah blah moon, menstrual life force power... I thought after a few sessions we'd get into something real, but..." Willow sighed heavily before the girls hastily maneuvered around the definitely-on-something freshmen seemingly talking to themselves.

Buffy already figured out the answer, "No actually witches in your witch group."

"Buncha wannablessedbe's. It's just a fad. Nowadays every girl with a henna tattoo and a spice rack think she's a sister to the dark ones..." the budding witch shook her head in discontent on how much the times truly have changed.

Well, at least since last June anyway. At least this time, no one tried to burn her at the stake.

The girls entered their room, both disappointed with the day's events.

"Sorry it was a bust. I know you were looking to go further in that department," Buffy mused as she remained internally conflicted about the almost kiss with Riley while pulling two cans of soda out of the mini fridge.

"Well, I'd like to float something bigger than a pencil someday..." Willow trailed off before something popped up in her head, "Hey how's with you and Riley? You guys seemed pretty snugly after class..." the hacker gave a little knowing smirk to her best friend.

Buffy shook her head at the redhead's antics and sighed, "See above, re: talk, all talk."

"Do I have to _tie_ you two together?" Willow groaned in disbelief as her plan to set them up failed yet again.

Buffy wasn't exactly happy with how things turned out either, "We almost, but..." she sighed as the duties of being a Slayer almost always meant concealing the truth from most people coming Buffy's way.

"Get with it! I need my vicarious lovin'!" Willow clicked her tongue with her hands thrown in the air in slight frustration before taking a gulp of her root beer.

Buffy audibly exhaled, "I don't know - I get nervous, and I start babbling, and he babbles - it's a babble-fest," she rolled her eyes at her own ineptitude with her limited dating experience before voicing her concerns about her supernatural heritage, "Plus every time we talk, I have to lie. They Slayer thing comes up one way or another... it bothers me that I can't tell him the truth."

Willow's eyes creased with concern. "It didn't bother you with Parker."

"I know," Buffy muttered while inwardly groaning at her last "fling", "But with Riley... I wish I could just come clean."

The redheaded hacker understood her best friend's reasoning to protect her Slayer lineage, for her own sake than anyone's else.

"I get it, Buff," she gave a tiny grin before her stomach rumbled loudly, making the witch blush slightly, "Hey come on, let's go get dinner."

"Chinese again?" Buffy's entire face lit up at the mention of teriyaki chicken and egg rolls.

Willow grinned widely, "You read my mind."

With that, the two roommates gathering their keys and wallets as Buffy not-so-discreetly concealed Mr. Pointy in her jacket lining.

"So, why _were_ the Wiccan wannabes giving you a hard time when you asked about the magic again?" Buffy quizzed the hacker as she opened the door to let Willow through before locking it.

"Because certain stereotypes are not very _empowering_, Buffy," Willow retorted in a mocking tone to as she rolled her eyes at the faux witch group.

Buffy caught on to Willow's jeer as she then made a deceptive serious face as if to "lecture" the witch, "Wow Willow, you're a real actual _witch_? Oh my god, I so need to call everybody."

As they were still heading down the hallway to the main downstairs lounge, Willow refused to let up the sneering tone.

"I enjoy talking this way."

Thankfully, neither did Buffy.

"As do I," the pair took one look at each other and busted out laughing at their taunting of the aforementioned Wicca group.

* * *

"How can I be honest with her?"

Forrest shrugged with his typical surliness, "Well, you can't."

Both commandos climbed out of the master pit, sweaty from their intensive daily exercise.

Riley ignored his subordinate's attitude for the time being as he couldn't help a displeased groan escape him.

"I _know_ I can't," the towering man was busy fumbling with his jacket before the pair exited the exercise chambers, "But it bugs me this time."

Forrest understood his best friend's conflict, "This is the burden we bear, brother. We have a gig that would inevitably cause any girl living to think we are cool upon cool. Yet we must Clark Kent our way through the dating scene never to use our unfair advantage," the man smirked as the commandos stopped to let a cart carrying a group of scientists drive by.

As the cart finished its' rounds, Forrest continued the conversation with a haughty sigh, "Thank god we're pretty."

Riley was still deep in thought. "But its just... Buffy's special..." he trailed off despite sounding like a desperate poet.

Forrest gave him a withering scornful look, "You think she's special. Wow. The first four hundred and eighty six times you told me, it didn't register but now, I see that you think she's special," he quipped with a ever slight amount of deep sarcasm laced in his voice.

"See, you're naturally inclined to talk too much..." Riley dryly retorted as his friend more or less stared at him before the brownish-haired man spoke further, "I don't have that."

Forrest rolled his eyes. "Then get with the kissing."

They entered the elevator before Riley activated his vocal credentials, "Riley Finn."

"Initiative vocal code match complete," the usual soothing voice rang out in response.

Once the elevator sealed the doors, Riley muttered under his breath, "I wish."

"Hmph," Forrest scoffed as usual.

The two men have been best friends ever since they enlisted in the Marine Corps at just seventeen and having been on numerous combat missions together, they were selected by the U.S. government to become a part of a conceptual organization known as the Initiative, a top-secret military unit infamously known throughout the demon world for capturing anything with supernatural roots to perform various experiments on those captured before ultimately being subjected to slavery or just killed off. Over the last year and a half, Riley had excelled in all challenges lain out to him and he was deemed by many to be the next leader of the Initiative after Maggie's upcoming retirement.

"Besides, what can I say?" Riley was about to go on a long-winded lover's tangent before he spotted another commando named Willis and instantly scurried over to scold the lackadaisical Corporal, "I don't see that report on Thursday maneuvers by tomorrow, you're gonna be on latrine duty and I'm talking about the sector C latrines where we keep the big ass demons and you _know_ I mean that literally..." which was instantly met with a shakily fast salute and an even prompter exit.

"I'm a romantic..." Riley's eyes glazed over once again at the thought of the gorgeous blonde. Forrest was too busy rolling his eyes and shaking his head in discontent to notice his commander's star-struck lovers gaze.

_'No reasoning with him tonight with him thinking about what's-her-name...'_

This made the Sergeant's scowl even more pronounced than usual as he tried to brush off the immense feeling of jealously plaguing him.

_'Whatever.'_

* * *

Inside a decrepit house at the end of the cul-de-sac, the usual shouting matches followed by breaking glass upstairs had bitterly reminded an exhausted Xander that he seriously needed to move out of his parent's basement.

Once again, Spike remained tied to the reclining chair as Xander was just getting into bed. It had been a long day for the dark-haired man and he just wanted to shut down from the world for a few hours as his weary mind attempt to make the lamest of excuses to an irate Anya.

Unfortunately, it seemed that Xander would not getting any sleep tonight due to-

"Don't see why I _have_ to be tied up," the chipped vampire snarled in annoyance.

Xander refused to engage in their usual petty bickering, "It's just while I'm sleeping."

Spike scoffed in utter contempt, as if what the man said was severely offensive, "Like I'd bite _you_ anyway."

"Oh, you _would_," Xander retorted as he adjusted his ragged blankets to offer him the most warmth as the heater gave out again this week, and the freezing December air often meant a sleepless night for the young man.

Spike rolled his eyes for the umpteenth time today, "Not _bloody_ likely."

"I happen to be very biteable, pal. I'm moist and _delicious_." Xander added the last word with more than necessary emphasis as he tucked in his futon.

Spike finally gave up on their miniature squabble. "All right, yeah fine. You're a _nummy_ treat..." he huffed with the faintest amount of sarcasm.

"And don't _you_ forget it," the man boasted while he rudely pointed a finger at the restrained vampire before he switched off the overhead light.

Curling up under the blankets as best he could, Xander was just about to doze off-

"Xander, don't you _care_ about me?" an obnoxiously falsetto voice that almost sounded suspiciously like Anya broke the eerie silence.

An exasperated sigh said it all, "Shut up."

All was quiet again.

"We _never_ talk..."

Xander pointed a finger up as a final warning, "_Shut_ up."

Another five seconds passed.

"_Xander_..."

A now irate Xander seized his nearby Wolverine figurine to chuck at the blond's head, "Shut up!"

"_Ow_!"

The dark-haired man smirked knowing that he had managed to clip the vampire with blind accuracy.

"I'm thirsty!" Spike continued to whine, making it highly obvious that neither of them were going to sleep tonight.

"That's too bad," Xander grunted in irritation as he punched the pillow to make it more comfortable.

Spike wasn't going to let up, "But you're my host!"

Xander have had enough. "Oh my god, Spike! _Please_ go bite yourself, then you can drink _all_ your own blood. And _I_ can _finally_ have some damn peace and quiet! Is that too much to ask around here?!"

"Can someone just stake me?" Spike growled irately as his vampire face revealed immense displeasure.

"Keep it up, and you'll get your wish..." Xander muttered darkly.

* * *

It was now thirty minutes closer to midnight, and though Giles became a little concerned about the lateness, there were more pressing matters that demanded his immediate attention.

He remained perched in his chair with his numerous worn books and notes splayed open about the desk as he kept pondering about the Gentlemen. He could've sworn he'd heard of this mysterious creature somewhere before, but he couldn't quite place his finger on it.

"They need to take seven..." the rugged ex-Watcher uttered with an ever increasing amount of curiosity laced in his raspy voice, "Take seven what?"

The sudden shrill of the doorbell had Giles come back to reality as he rose to answer the door, and a tired Olivia trudged through the apartment with a small grin on her face.

"Olivia," Giles tried to contain the happiness in his tone, to no avail.

Olivia slithered out of her bulky jacket and dumped her bags on the floor, "Sorry I'm so late. The flight was a horror..." she shuddered at the harrowing experience she had today.

"Bad weather?" Giles nodded sympathetically.

The woman shuddered even more, "Baseball movie."

"Oh, I am sorry..." the Brit had a slight sneer of disgust at the mention of "America's favorite pastime."

"Yes..." Olivia trailed off as she scooted dangerously closer to an ever increasingly flushed ex-Watcher and conveyed a slight smirk on her mischievous face, "That's enough small talk, don't you think?"

She wrapped the man up in a great big kiss, and everything else, including his notes about the Gentlemen roughly written at the top, had been erased from the Brit's mind.

For now he had a more pressing matter to attend to...

* * *

Somewhere within the hushed night, something secret steered toward the Sunnydale clock tower.

There's a grand exchange with a tiny ornate wooden box, bony white hands, and a silent ritual. Behind an ornate and old-fashioned clock face, a second hand large as a man swept around behind the frosted glass of the face.

Pandora's Box was now exposed and though revealed to be pitch black, a faint whisper echoed from deep within.

The whispering began spreading over the whole town as it made its' whole way into one house where a small boy laid sleeping on his racing car bed, when he suddenly opened his mouth to release a huge breath snaking out of him and out through his barely opened window.

But the boy never woke up.

The whispering echoes continued to extend across from the various affluent suburbs to little-known run-down neighborhoods.

Inside the private nest where Giles and Olivia were currently fast asleep from their earlier passionate reunification, they too emitted the deep and sudden breaths.

Finally approaching the nearby UCSD campus, more and more murmurs nonchalantly seized all of the breaths from the dozing college students.

In a certain blonde Wiccan's room, Tara was muttering almost fearfully in her sleep. Another nightmare seemed to have plagued her.

"No... Don't hurt me... I didn't mean..."

Though she had slept through her deep breath, she continued to murmur soundlessly as her body was twitching with sleep paralysis.

Meanwhile in the nearby Stevenson Hall on the second floor, the deeply sleeping Buffy and Willow had inhaled their deep breaths and they too had their breaths flowing outward from the asleep duo.

The immense task complete and all voices wrongfully stolen, the collective breaths snaked throughout the town and began heading upward toward the town's central clock tower.

In the middle of the decrepit structure, all of the town's voices have finally streamed directly into the ornate box, before a stark bone white hand closed the lid to seal the voices from escaping, and the mysterious monster revealed itself.

He had an old rickety appearance with no trace of color anywhere. The monster's creepily bony features was almost as if the old Nosferatu had decided to merge with the Hellraiser before taking the Joker out for drinks at the seediest nightclub, as if such a disturbing abomination could even exist. The so-called Gentleman couldn't stop his rictus-grin, with his highly exposed teeth a gleaming metal.

And he grinned ever so widely with the wickedly utmost satisfaction...


	2. The Sound of Silence

Rating: PG-13

Date: December 15th, 1999

Location: Sunnydale, California

* * *

The morning light had peered through the thin dorm-issued curtains, easily waking a thrashing Buffy out of her deep sleep. Her foot was stuck out of the askew blankets as her head was mostly under the pillow to hide from the harsh light.

Yawning as she pulled herself up to start a new day, Buffy grabbed her beloved spotted towel before exiting the room, leaving a still peacefully sleeping Willow.

A moment later, Buffy finished washing her face before drying off to head back out when she another girl, face lined with tears and the most wide-eyed expression and scurries to the end of the hallway before Buffy could say anything. Her gaze followed the girl all the way down to see a boy pounding on someone's door, seemingly expressing his frustration.

_'Huh. Weird.'_

Shaking her head, a puzzled Buffy entered her room again to see Willow finally up and sitting sleepily on the side of the bed. The Slayer moved to throw her towel on the back of her chair, before giving a friendly morning greeting.

"Good morning."

Except, no sound came out.

_'What the...?'_

Buffy instantly froze as she cleared her throat before trying again.

"Good morn... good..."

Not even so much as a tiny exhale.

Willow never noticed Buffy's increasing worry as she warmly acknowledged her best friend with a "Hey."

Yet, there was not a peep.

The redhead unsurprisingly freaked out a bit as she tried to speak again before looking at Buffy with a sudden fear.

_'What the hell?'_

"Willow?" Buffy mouthed again.

Willow was definitely freaked out now.

"Will, can you hear me?" Buffy asked mutely while the redhead was panicking more and more.

_'What the hell's going on?! Am I... am I deaf?! I have to be!'_

"I'm deaf! I've gone deaf!" she mouthed as she pointed to her ears.

"No, I don't think so. We can't speak!"

Willow yelled as loud as she possibly could despite nothing being produced before her vocal cords cracked at the strain and she sputtered before Buffy pounded her best friend's back to control the sudden coughing fit with the hacker mouthing a "Thanks" as she clutched her throat to ease the fading ache.

Seeing the dilemma, Buffy shook her head and pointed to her throat, informing Willow that she wasn't the only one who couldn't talk. Willow scurried over, breathing hard, as both roommates are at a total loss to this unusual predicament.

Buffy raised her finger as if she was thinking of any number of possible solution and stuck her head out the door.

There were five students gathered out in the main hallway, all reacting to the same malady- not being able to speak. Buffy followed by a thoroughly frightened Willow stared at the group with growing concern. This seemed far beyond the works of a regular demon.

_'Oh boy... this is not good.'_

* * *

Tara finally completed her morning meditation before stretching all of her muscles, internally groaning as she felt an audible pop in her lower back. Lighting the sage scented incense, she made a mental note to pick up some more as she was running low. She frowned for a second when she became aware that her dorm was quiet.

_Too_ quiet.

Fischer Hall was known for many things, more along the lines as being a sort of backup dorm when the many parties always being held at Porter Hall became a little too rowdy, as well as being the hotbed of activity with the various clubs and organizations due to its' centralized location at UCSD.

But a deafening silence on a Wednesday morning was _not_ one of them.

Though she was not one for social interactions, Tara peeked her head out of her door and gave a soft "Hello?" to anyone who could have heard her. The witch was bewildered when she could not produce a single sound. She cleared her throat and gave more volume to her tone than she was comfortably used to as she spoke another "Hello?" before realizing that she was also unable to speak.

_'Oh no...'_

Scrambling to her dorm telephone, the blonde punched in various numbers to connect to her old roommate.

"Tina, you there?" Tara's urgency soon gave way to awareness that whatever's affecting her must be affecting the entire town as well. Therefore, Tina would likely not be able to respond. Blushing hotly from embarrassment despite being the only one in the room, she promptly placed the phone down and began pulling out multiple books related to spells and curses.

_'What on earth could have caused this?'_

* * *

Xander yawned before popping out the kinks in his back from another hard night on the futon as he finally rose up and uttered a curt greeting to his "house guest."

"Up you get, Spike."

No sound was made and he immediately contorted his mouth in a vain effort to get some semblance of noise out.

"What the _shit_?!" Xander mutely cursed, "What's going on? Why can't I talk?!"

The man was beyond baffled by the abrupt lack of his speaking ability. Meanwhile, Spike finally came to and to his disgust, saw that Xander was already up and about.

"Oi, you bint..." the blond instantly stopped as he realized he was not able to speak.

_'I can't talk! What the bloody hell's going on?!'_

Xander just gave up at this point with his fruitless attempts to get his voice back before a sudden thought popped in his head and turned to point at Spike with more than an accusatory look.

"You did this!" the darker haired man silently bellowed all his rage toward the restrained vampire.

Spike merely glanced at the man as he pointed to himself.

"Me?" he mouthed to further prove his innocence

"I can't talk! I can't talk!" Xander kept mutely hollering which was met with Spike raising his fingers to perform quite a rude gesture.

Chastised, Xander slowly understood at such an idiotic accusation as he was scrambling a way to get out of this situation and rushed to his nearby phone.

Buffy would know what to do. She always did.

* * *

Meanwhile at UCSD, the dorm telephone rang and Buffy instantly scrambled to the buzzing device, while Willow was busy looking down her own throat in the vanity mirror. Buffy instantly picked up and began mouthing out words of help before remembering that she couldn't talk for the time being. Willow shoved a piece of paper to the Slayer's face with a hastily scribbled note.

"What are we gonna do?"

The anxiety-riddled note also appealed to a visibly shaken redhead as she forced herself to take deep breaths before closing her eyes to think of happy thoughts.

Didn't work.

None came to mind as Willow stood up with an over exaggeration of hand gestures and widened fearful eyes before the Slayer gently yet firmly kept the anxious Wiccan in place by embracing her in an affectionate hug before Buffy pulled back with a comforting look that everything was going to be alright.

Willow was visibly relieved and a little shamefaced at her apparent panic mode before an idea came to mind as she seized her notebook complete with multicolored notes as she tore out a blank sheet to write something again before showing it to Buffy.

"Maybe Giles knows?"

Buffy nodded at the obvious situation before her features contorted to a scowl.

_'Crap... how **are** we gonna be able to explain this to Giles?'_

Buffy never knew what to do.

* * *

A steadily agitated Xander who kept barking a hello for the umpteenth time finally recognized the inevitable problem that _he_ couldn't speak either and with great shame, he promptly hung up.

Xander slowly met Spike's eyes and the chipped vamp gave him a withering "You're such a bloody idiot" glare. The man huffed and rolled his eyes as he quickly assembled his faded jeans, red striped sweater, and worn boots.

"What about me?" Spike mouthed in contempt and shook his head at not being to speak and therefore, failing to get the man's attention.

Until he noticed a nearby empty Led Zeppelin CD case and with great accuracy, chucked it at Xander's head.

"Ow!" Xander silently yelped as he turned to glare at the tied up vamp.

"Untie me!" Spike mouthed in a rather unfriendly demand.

Xander scoffed. "Like hell!" he mutely retorted before scurrying up the basement to get to Anya's apartment immediately.

Spike was understandably less than enthused at being left in the dark, moldy basement.

_'What the hell's a bloke got to do now? I'm bloody bored!'_

Sighing inaudibly, Spike tapped his fingers against the chair in a sluggish motion before the upbeat song Blitzkrieg Pop from The Ramones etched to his mind and he was getting down to the rhythmic drumming to keep himself entertained for the time being before going all out and mouthing the lyrics to his favorite song complete with air guitar and rapid finger beats against the edge of his chair. With an unusual amount of enthusiasm, Spike closed his eyes as if to imagine he was right there up on stage with them while silently bellowing the last parts of the song. With a contented sigh at mutely singing his heart out, Spike opened his eyes and realized he was still in his least favorite person's dank basement.

Until the vampire noticed the morning sunlight widening throughout the space and was soon about to touch him.

_'No, no, **no**! This can't be how I bloody go out! This is the big evil equivalent of dying on the loo!'_

Spike used his vampiric strength to move the couch in a way that he couldn't be touched by the forbidden brightness despite the tight ropes severely restricting any more movement. He knew Xander was going to be furious at the scuff marks on the floor.

But did he care?

Not particularly.

The couch suddenly overturned by Spike's unnatural strength and promptly crushed the chipped blond, his previously restraining ropes now cut by the wooden supports.

"Ow..." Spike mouthed in pain before he agonizingly pulled himself out of the cursing sofa and hissed in pain as the barest amount of light slightly blistered the vampire's hand. He stole Xander's favorite black hoodie and began stretching his muscles for the day's activities.

_'Right. I'm free again. Can go out and wander anywhere I damn well please. No one can talk. No one to scream for help. No one... to scream... for help.'_

Spike's grin slowly grew malicious as he came up with the most evil plan...

* * *

A restless Riley was lazing in bed in the dark before Forrest threw the door open and shambled over to wake him. Riley came to instantly as he groggily sat up.

"What's the problem-" he mouthed quite irately before he stopped and tried to speak again by clearing by throat. Forrest shook the man again while pointing to his own throat before pointing outside to the rest of Lowell House.

Riley reached for his green cargo pants before pulling on his shirt as he exited his bedroom, a surlier Forrest accompanying him. Willis came down the second floor stairs, appearing even more confused than ever.

Riley and Forrest descended to the ground floor at a faster pace. There are five commandos there, puzzled yet awaiting orders of anything that makes sense.

Riley signaled with his hand for them to wait there as he and Forrest proceeded to the elevator.

They stood before the mirror, letting the green light wash over them.

"Retinal scan accepted."

The door slide open before they stepped in and closed behind them before beginning its' descent as Forrest was busy scribbling something on a notepad. He held out the pad to Riley with a hastily scrawled "IT'S ALL OVER TOWN."

The men shared a skeptical look before the elevator instantly halted. Forrest huffed silently.

_'Oh great. What now?_

"Vocal code not accepted. Please state your name for vocal identification."

The two shared a much more concerned look. Riley began breathing on the intercom as Forrest rolled his eyes.

"Vocal code not accepted. Unauthorized beings will be considered hostile. Please commence vocal identification in the next twenty seconds to avoid countermeasures."

As the soothing monotone voice issued the standard spiel, Riley banged on a panel and popped it open, revealing a keypad and various colored wires. Riley pulled a card from his back pocket before inserting it in a nearby slot. The digital readout above the keypad blared: OVERRIDE CODE?

Cursing his foggy memory, Riley tried to remember the numerous sequences in his head. Forrest was too busy repeating, "Countermeasures?" to offer any sort of assistance.

Hesitantly, Riley began punching in a sequence of numbers while Forrest was frantically scribbling again on the notepad.

"Override code incorrect. Ten seconds to lethal countermeasures."

Riley was trying again, with Forrest holding his pad behind Riley with much more emphasis than before, screaming "COME ON, COME ON...", though Riley never turned to read it as he kept punching the code before cracking a smile of "I'm totally fucked."

"Lethal countermeasures engaged."

A sickly yellowish gas was now launching from the corner of the elevator. The commandos instantly recognized the cloud as nerve gas as the men pulled their shirts up to cover their nose and mouth.

As a last resort, Riley pulled the wires out of the box and the lights suddenly turned off.

The door finally slid open, revealing a none too pleased Maggie along with a skeptical Dr. Angleman and a curious Dr. Han behind her.

Riley and Forrest stepped out of the elevator and stood before her. Forrest displayed serious alacrity as the professor pointed to a sign on the wall, then turned and walked away with the other scientists in tow.

Riley and Forrest glanced upward at the bright crimson sign and inwardly rolled their eyes at the other before they followed their superior.

**IN CASE OF EMERGENCY, USE STAIRWAY.**

* * *

A sudden and continual pounding at the door forced a grumbling Anya to robe herself and on the other side of the apartment revealed a sweaty and panting Xander.

Grabbing his girlfriend in an almost rough manner, he mutely bellowed, "We can't talk, Anya!"

Anya was startled at her boyfriend's demeanor before rolling her eyes at her boyfriend's yet another stupid attempt with his sense of humor and began berating the man with a sarcastic quip.

"Xander, you're such a..." Anya trailed off as she realized she was not able to speak. She cleared her throat before trying again.

The man pointed to his throat and mouthed, "It's me too. Something happened."

Confusion on Anya's face soon gave way to almost hysterical panic, "I can't talk! I can't talk!" to which Xander tried to soothe his girlfriend's nerves by embracing before quickly releasing Anya, for he knew she was most definitely _not_ a morning person.

As he had come to find out the hard way.

With her permission, the man entered the apartment and wrote a quick note on a nearby piece of paper, "NO ONE can talk. We need to go to Giles' and go from there."

With a nod, Anya motioned for him to wait on the couch as she proceeded to get ready. Figuring that his girlfriend most likely had not consumed her usual coffee this morning, he made for the cramped kitchen and turned on the kettle to brew a strong cup on the go, as Anya always drunk her coffee black, much to Xander's disgust and amazement on how she was able to drink such a beverage.

A few minutes pass with Anya gathering her purse, and Xander holding out a fresh travel mug of coffee just for her. Anya took note of Xander's action and slightly narrowed her eyes before she inhaling her first sip and smiled as he remembered that she liked her coffee just the way it was meant to be, no frills or anything fancy.

Still, Xander was far from being back in the ex-demon's good books, and he was going to have to seriously prove himself that he truly cared about her, and that their relationship was more than just physical.

However great the sex was...

* * *

Down in the Fischer Hall commons, there were a number of students but it was completely different than the average hustle and bustle. The deafening silence had overwhelmed quite a few already as one girl was sobbing in her confused boyfriend's arms. Some of the more ambitious students assembled in tiny groups, scrawling lectures and other details on their notepads as the finals were coming up, while another group in the most private corner was lighting up what suspiciously appeared as a bong while the distinct smell of marijuana wafted toward Tara's nose. To her further alarm, some guy apparently couldn't take the silence anymore as he dropped his school supplies and bolted through the commons to the outside in a hysterical panic.

No matter what the students were doing or not doing, one thing was certain.

Everyone was completely and utterly confused by this unusual phenomenon.

With a great exhale, Tara made her way downstairs and trudged about through the commons as she occasionally gazed upward shyly yet refusing to make eye contact with anyone.

Suddenly, one guy accidentally dropped a bottle of mango Snapple and it immediately smashed on the floor, the piercing noise echoing like a gunshot, startling everyone quite a bit. The highly flustered guy sheepishly crawled down to begin cleaning up his mess.

Willow was nowhere to be found, much to Tara's slight concern.

_'I got to find her. She's the only one who has some semblance of power when we were at the Wicca group. Maybe if we could find a way to reverse it...'_

With an inaudible sigh, Tara departed through the hall's main entrance and kept her eyes peeled for the spunky fiery-haired girl.

Until an impact sent the timid Wiccan tumbling to the ground before a steady hand gripped her free wrist. Tara glanced upward at her savior to see a smirking Tina pulling her up from the ground. The two girls exchanged a brief friendly hug before the Barbadian girl had a face etched with concern.

"Tara! You ok?" Tina mutely asked before her former roommate nodded rapidly. The darker skinned woman held a finger held up as she scribbled in her tiny notebook.

"What the hell is going on here?"

Tara could only shrug with her shoulders before taking her mentor's notebook and writing a similar response.

"I don't know. I'm trying to find someone."

Tina furrowed her eyebrows. "Magic?" she mouthed in an apprehensive way which was only met with an apologetic glance at neither girl knowing any more than the other before the upperclassman written something again, "Let me know if you find anything. I might be able to help."

With a smile, Tara shook her head and the girls hugged again before leaving in opposite directions.

* * *

Buffy and Willow make their way through the street. Aside from the occasional honking of nearby cars, it's way more quiet than Buffy or Willow were ever used to, but nevertheless there was a great deal of activity throughout the town. The girls walked hand in hand, needing the feel of each other's presence as they took in everything in sight.

The First Bank of Sunnydale had shuttered its' door with a handmade sign declaring a "Sorry, we're CLOSED". Right across the street, the seedy liquor store was making huge business as their sign blared a "Yes, we're OPEN!", along with a line of mostly middle-aged men reaching well out the door.

A large imposing man wearing a crisply ironed business suit was currently crouched in the middle of the road bawling at being incapable to effectively communicate and therefore, unable to secure the quite largest deal of a lifetime with his newly established California Circuits.

Next to the weeping man, a stocky muscle car was improperly parked on the curb and was seemingly abandoned after a crash into a nearby fire hydrant with a fountain of water forcefully spraying upward.

Meanwhile, a praying meeting was being conducted in a nearby nook by the Magic Box. A preacher stood before the congregation reading silently from his Bible. Next to him, an old woman wearing a gray bandanna to hide her eyes grasped a small chalkboard with the reading of Revelations 15:1 immaculately composed in all capital letters.

No more than ten people knelt before the pastor as they read from their own Bibles silently before a young college student joined the ever growing congregation as he crawled downward to offer a prayer of his own.

Buffy and Willow were almost at Giles' apartment before they noticed a man selling dry erase boards on the nearby sidewalk, at only ten dollars a piece. The boards came with a velcroed on marker and a thin string to keep around one's neck, as he's wearing one as a mere demonstration. The man clearly gave off the same vibes of a sleazy used car salesman as his charming smile became more of a sneer, as if the smarmy man always enjoyed profiting from disasters such as this.

The girls managed to pass by all the strange events unfolding before their very eyes with great wary and as they passed the salesman, the girls glanced at each other with a shared look.

_'What a total sleaze.'_

The girls were a few steps away from entering the main courtyard at Giles' apartment until Willow pulled at Buffy's arm.

"What?" the Slayer mouthed with a curious look on her face.

Willow merely nodded her head back the opposite direction. Buffy followed to Willow's way of thinking and quickly scowled. A firm shake of Willow's head made the Slayer sigh as they promptly went back to reluctantly give the ever so smug salesman a crisp twenty dollar bill to buy two dry erase boards.

"Happy now?" Buffy mutely seethed, which was met with quite a happy nod and smile from a perky Willow.

* * *

At the apartment, Giles was at the table with an epic magnitude of research and multiple books splayed open while Xander and Anya were keeping their eyes glued to the TV with the sound off as they kept waiting for some kind of bulletin about today to appear. Olivia sat in the recliner with a glass of single-malt scotch, courtesy of an apologetic Giles, in her hands as it seemed that she was clearly the least prepared for this kind of situation. Buffy and Willow finally made it to the apartment with the dry erase boards around their necks as a skittish Olivia smiled politely at the two girls before taking yet another prodigious swing.

Xander and Anya looked back at the girls and the ex-demon simply nodded her head in greeting. Xander stood up to scramble toward his two best friends but he stopped himself and waved lamely for he literally had nothing to say before he spun back around to the TV before perching himself on the arm of the sofa. The innocent gesture wasn't lost on Anya as she still questioned his affections toward her.

Buffy placed her board down before Giles rose to walk toward Buffy and clasped his hand on Buffy's arm in a reassuring manner. Buffy smiled forlornly as she briefly returned the grip before glancing at Giles, than at the various books splayed open.

"Anything?" Buffy mouthed in concern.

Willow was determinedly scribbling on her board for she had something important to say.

Giles peered down and shook his head slightly as he could only shrug to Buffy. He was honestly at a complete loss so far.

Willow shyly held out her board out for him to read, "Hi Giles."

With a fatherly smile, Giles trudged over to Willow to give her a paternal one armed hug in response.

Buffy absently examined Giles' many notes before something caught her eye, and upon further inspection, she grabbed her Watcher's notebook and saw the rhymes that she mentioned to him just the other day.

"Can't even shout, Can't even cry. The Gentlemen are coming by...", and it instantly clicked in Buffy's head, with the Slayer silently groaning that she didn't remember it before. With the notebook in her hand, she held it up for Giles to see with an emphasis pointing to the top where he has written "THE GENTLEMEN" as she gave him a questioning look. Giles shrugged again and shook his head to indicated that there was nothing in the books.

A rapid snapping of fingers from Xander got everyone's attention while Anya turned the TV volume up for something critical came on.

Everyone gathered round to listen to the nearest out of town newscaster with his special report.

"We have this breaking news item from Sunnydale, California: Apparently the entire town has been quarantined due to an epidemic of - as strange as this may sound - _laryngitis_. It seems the entire town has been rendered unable to speak. There is no word yet what might have caused this or what other effects might be seen from this epidemic. Local authorities have issued a statement - a _written_ statement, I should say - blaming recent flu vaccinations. A few skeptics call it a city-wide hoax."

Everyone in the apartment all shared the same expression of deep concern as the newscaster issued the declaration from the local authorities.

"In the meanwhile, Sunnydale has effectively shut down; all schools and businesses will be closed for the time being, and residents are advised to stay home and rest up. The Center for Disease Control has ordered the entire town quarantined- no one can go in or out- until the syndrome is identified or the symptoms disappear. We'll bring you more on that as it develops."

"That's _it_?" Xander mouthed in a clearly frustrated way as Anya turned the sound down.

With this startling information, Buffy borrowed Willow's whiteboard from her and started scribbling on it, before holding it up to the others.

"Keep researching. I should be in town tonight."

Giles was more than a little curious as he mouthed, "Why?"

Buffy nodded her head back toward the books as if the answer was obvious.

Which it wasn't as the gang could only stare at the Slayer with slight confusion.

Rolling her eyes, Buffy wrote on the board again and revealed it to everyone.

"No one to SCREAM for help..."

Which this time, everyone seemed to have gotten it.

* * *

Down at the lower labs in the Initiative, a plan was being formulated to provide some semblance of order for the town.

"WHY CAN'T WE CALL IN THE NATIONAL GUARD? PEOPLE ARE GOING TO GET ROWDY." was scrawled all throughout the notepad along with an impatient Forrest revealing his board. He simply couldn't understand why his most obvious yet easy solution was met with immediate denial by his superiors.

"Because there will be chaos."

Maggie typed in the bulky computer system as the robotic voice echoed throughout the chamber. The impromptu command center was hastily assembled in the middle of the labs, along with a clear map of the town, a few computer stations, a sturdy table and foldable chairs. Riley, Forrest, and Graham sat at the opposite table while listening to their lead commander as they kept legal pads and sharpies at the ready for further questions and concerns.

Maggie resuming typing, "You will help keep order. Dress as civilians. A military presence would only increase panic."

Frustrated with no solution in plain sight, Riley promptly wrote before exposing the notepad with the inevitable question, "WHAT IS HAPPENING?"

The professor seemed to have already known his inquiry as she typed again into the computer.

"We are looking into it. Go. Help maintain order. We will find an answer."

The three men had serious doubts about the professor's objective to provide order without calling in the conventional military. However, as this was anything but conventional, Riley motioned for his subordinates to rally around the gear issuing room at nine tonight, for the commando had a grave appearance on his scowling face.

_'No more playing war games...'_

* * *

Buffy ambled down the street as she past an expensive sports car that collided with a fire hydrant with the water gushing up a few feet above. Buffy made a mental note about alerting the nearby fire department with the damaged hydrant. At a local playground, kids about Buffy's age were hanging out on a bench and blasting gangster rap on their boombox and partying as if it was all some massive prank.

The Slayer rolled her eyes before she froze at the scene in front of her.

Riley was in front the crumbling used bookstore by a intentionally lit trash can fire trying to contain the flames within. Satisfied with his effort, he then mediated a conflict of sort between two men, a black businessman in a sharp suit and a white man wearing dusty clothes, currently exchanging blows in a fistfight. The commando was playing the sympathy card before quickly dispelling any sort of kindness as he sternly and quite effectively shoved the loosely dressed man away when he got right in the soldier's face.

Buffy strolled up to the trio as Riley has turned his back to face the other seething fellow attempting to calm the other man's anger while adjusting his business suit.

The shoved man's eyes shined malevolently as he seized a nearby pipe in an effort to strike Riley while his back was still turned toward the wickedly smirking man.

The impact never came Buffy immediately walked up and violently snatched his wrist to twist an odd angle with an efficient promptness until the sharp snap and a dropped pipe ringing in the Slayer's ears meant she accomplished her action. The guy silently howled in pain with tears of agony prickling his eyes before dropping to his knees as Buffy never even stopped to look at the man.

Riley has eventually managed to defuse the second guy before whirling back around to see a vaguely uneasy Buffy. They instantly embraced the other before gazing in the other's eyes.

"Are you okay?" Riley mouthed with concern and affection toward his crush.

Buffy smiled weakly as she nodded before mouthing, "You?" while touching Riley's handsome face.

The startling noise of broken glass further down the street alerted the couple to be while Riley gently nudged the blonde that he should probably go investigate the noise. Out of her own sense of duty, Buffy nodded with an indication that she was heading the other way anyway.

They reluctantly began to part but soon as they kept holding the other's hands, the sudden pull of attraction toward the other had them slip back into the hug as they shared their first kiss, both feeling a great wave of dizziness as sparks flew from the passionate embrace.

A little flushed, Riley gave a warm grin and waved to a quite dazed Buffy as he went down the main street. Buffy continued to watch the man for a moment before she snapped out of it and sauntered off with a certain skips in her steps in the other direction.

* * *

At UCSD, Willow had her laptop tirelessly working along with a few volumes spread out on the bed and despite the hours she spent researching when she could and probably should have studied for her upcoming midterms, there was just nothing of interest that would even be remotely beneficial to the gang.

_'Where's someone to cast spells with when you need 'em?'_

She briefly thought of Tara and how she was handling all of this before shaking her head as her ever active mind was becoming more and more jumbled thinking of the timid blonde Wiccan just as a weary Buffy entered the room, clearly beat from all the activity going on. Mentally thanking her best friend for the welcomed distraction, Willow looked up at her roommate with concern.

"Anything?"

Not even paying attention to what Willow was saying or mouthing as the case, Buffy just kept moving to her bed before collapsing face down onto it, blissfully snoring a few moments later.

With a sigh, Willow went right back to her work before producing a silent but formidable yawn.

_'Probably better just to sleep it off. Everything will be answered in the morning...'_

* * *

Two in the morning was approaching within ten minutes as noted in the clock tower, and despite being condemned by Sunnydale Police Department, the front door opened and a pair of flattened feet with prim shoes flat and together floated through the entrance before another pair floated by.

The mysterious monsters known as the Gentlemen float into Sunnydale and floated half a foot in the air yet not moving their lower limbs. Their astonishing act of levitation was accomplished as if one were just walking about. The Gentlemen were dressed rather dapper in their long black formal wear with the three pairs gliding throughout Sunnydale while each pair of two Footmen were flanking them and shuffling about, acting on behalf of their masters.

Their appearances of grisly pinkish bandaged heads and highly worn straitjackets with only the arms untied a relatively grotesque sight, as the Footmen slogged in a chimpish gait and hunching while swinging their arms about. The Gentlemen floated just above ground with fixed yet vile grins, the only difference between them were their varying heights. Echoes of silent communication had the Gentlemen split up into two pairs and waved a parting with minute hand movements before heading into different areas of the town.

Down Revello Drive, a pair of Gentlemen floated downward between the rows of silent homes and at one particular house at 1628 Revello Drive, before the two Gentlemen glanced at each other before heading toward the front door.

* * *

At the apartment, Giles was currently asleep with a restless Olivia placing her head on his bare chest, simply unable to rest.

Sighing, she rose from the bed and pulled on her partner's black woolen robe before padding downstairs toward the kitchen. A slight chinking sound from the outside had the woman pause her movements and erring on the side of caution, she trudged to the window, curious at what caused the noise. With a glance at a still dozing Giles, then to the window, Olivia pulled the gauze curtain aside peering out into the darkened street.

Focusing her blurry eyes, it seemed as though a creature of some sort was floating across the street before moving into the shadows. Peering a little more intently, Olivia squinted her eyes to zero in some more-

Another Gentlemen floated right by the window with its' wickedly grinning face merely inches away from her and she jumped back in great fright, gasping as she tried to scream. Olivia instinctively stepped back with a look of pure terror and for the longest moment, she remained rigid in place.

* * *

At Stevenson Hall, another pair of Gentlemen glided in the hallway with their Footmen staggering behind with the lights off in the halls here, signalling curfew time and all was totally silent here and remaining so as the grinning specters floated down the hall, moving down slowly, while craning their bald heads at every room.

The Gentlemen passed rooms 213 and 214, with Buffy and Willow sleeping soundly, unaware of a shadow lurking underneath their door.

But one Gentlemen waggled his finger no, their hands moving minimally just enough to communicate the action. The one they want is not in this area, and they glided around the corner into another hallway. The taller Gentleman waved his hand no before the pair stopped at one particular room with a Gentleman showing his affirmation for room 118 as this was the room going to be used tonight.

Three distinct knocks on the door awoke one boy wearing flannel pajamas. Despite tired and a little confused, he yawned before climbing out of bed to pad across the room. His vision slightly hazy, he opened the door-

The two Gentlemen stood politely before him, horrors beyond speaking of.

He eyes instantly widened as terror stretched across his entire face before the Footmen seized him roughly and dragging him back toward the bed to pin him down. He was putting up an immense struggle as he cried for help. But the effort was soundless and therefore useless. The Gentlemen floated inside and closed the door behind them before making their way to the bed with one on each side. The smaller Gentleman opened his doctors bag and withdrew a scalpel before he handed it to the taller one, before sharing wicked smiles at the prospect of this fine harvest.

"Help me! Please! Somebody help me!" the boy screamed for help again and again and realized that he was never going to be heard and rescued from this horrid monsters. The Gentleman glanced down to the petrified man before the monsters looked at each other as one nodded slightly. With vile grins, the Gentleman lowered the scalpel inching dangerously closer to the student's exposed chest.

The boy's screams of terror and agony were utterly silent as the Gentleman sliced deep within with the cleanest cut.

* * *

_'Damn... wish this hole in the ground would stay quiet more often.'_

A certain peroxide-bleached vampire was delightfully taking advantage of Sunnydale's peculiar hush as he was currently occupied scaring the absolute crap out of the already spooked townspeople in an effort to collect enough petty cash so that he could obtain blood, smokes, and liquor in that precise order.

Satisfied with how his night turned out, Spike in his vamp face had a lit cigarette in his mouth as he was happily counting the huge wad of money in his pale hands.

A slight chinking noise floated to his ears and the vampire stopped to turn toward the source of the sound and listened for a long moment. Seconds pass and he was unable to hear anything related to the mysterious noise. Still puffing on the cigarette, Spike shrugged it off before turning back around to head to his nearby crypt.

Only to encounter a maliciously grinning Gentleman clutching a beating human heart along with his Footmen scattering around him.

Spike could mutely scream in terror as he instantly dropped his cash wad to scramble away from this monster before-

**DING!**

Spike whacked himself on the head on a nearby light pole, forcing him flat on his rear as he clutched his head in agony. In a vulnerable moment, the Footman grappled the vampire to his kicking feet as the Gentleman ceremoniously pulled out a sharp scalpel.

A flash of a snarling vampiric face forced the Footman to release the chipped blond as he rushed to the nearest and safest place he could think of. He knew he was going to greatly irritate the Watcher as he expressed his desires to be left alone for the next couple of days.

Yet somehow, he wasn't paralyzed with caring very much.

A shrill knock at the door caused Olivia to jump in fright again before a now alert yet exhausted Giles had a short sword grasped in his strongest hand and cautiously opened the door to see a panting Spike speeding through the apartment and stopping to catch his breath. The vampire looked almost frightened and this made Olivia even more jumpy and Giles getting right into research mode as he wrote something on a nearby notebook.

"What happened?"

Calming down slightly, Spike roughly seized the ex-Watcher's notebook, earning a glare from the man while nursing his thumb with a freshly sliced paper cut. The vampire was sketching everything to memory as he wrote down what the Gentlemen looked like, and the weird lackeys near the monster.

* * *

At the Sunnydale clock tower, five Gentlemen hovered together, rustling like tall grass as the sixth and tallest Gentleman placed his treasure on their shrine.

It is the boy's still beating heart, freshly sticky before being contained in a chalice, with a total of seven chalices and three of them already containing hearts.

The gentlemen turned to his companions and flourished his hands like he was presenting the most exquisite painting. One Gentlemen understood the meaning and began applauding his companion as if it was rather an excellent game of golf with the other Gentlemen following suit. The presenting Gentlemen held up his hands to stop the applause in an all too polite gesture of "No, you're too kind!"

All their grins became wicked as they shared the mutual villainous thought that the night was still young...

* * *

The next morning, a more alert Buffy emerged from her room and instantly sensed something wrong. At the junction to the next hall, a pair of girls were comforting each other making the Slayer more anxious as she headed down to one room blocked by a man with a bright green jacket symbolizing his status as a campus official as he prevented the cluster of curious students from going into the victim's room. As Buffy was coming from the other direction, she quickly darted in the room to see the boy.

Or what was left of him.

Though the lights were off and the shades were drawn, the Slayer's face was etched with great concern that the boy was missing his heart, and judging by the smooth incisions, it appeared to have been cut into and eventually removed by a scalpel.

_'Hearts... they need hearts for a ritual of some kind.'_

With this knowledge, Buffy departed the room just as swiftly as she entered and dashed straight to her Watcher's apartment.

* * *

Out of gratitude or more likely possible reluctance, Giles gave Spike a fresh pack of blood, and the vampire smirked a bit before pouring some into a mug and placing it in the fridge to slightly cool.

Olivia sat on the stairs finished her drawings from what she saw last night with a slight tremble in her posture.

Giles set a steaming mug of coffee beside her before strolling to the door to grab his daily newspaper from his doorstep. Spike noticed Olivia's shakiness and tapped her shoulder so that she could meet his gaze, with the chipped blond giving her a thumbs up as an affirmation that everything was going to be alright. The woman seemed to have calmed slightly before giving a tiny yet warm smile to the vampire just as Giles entered the apartment, his face revealing a grave appearance as the opened headline blared:

**BRUTAL SLAYING SHOCKS SILENT COMMUNITY**

Down the paper was another article of a "_Fifteen Year Old Girl Found Stabbed, Heart Missing_."

The three focused on the missing hearts for a long moment as something beginning to click in the ex-Watcher's mind before he looked at Olivia who held up her completed sketch of a creepily grinning monster. Upon staring at the drawing, Giles threw down his paper and crossed to the bookshelf, scanning the many books about demons and folklore until he found a particular volume and pulled it out, with _Fairy Tales _as the main title. A few pages in, Spike stopped the man and pointed to one particular picture of a section called The Gentlemen while he scribbling on Giles' newspaper.

"That's the one I saw last night."

Olivia nodded her head as well to her partner in confirmation that it was the exact same description of what she saw last night as well. With that, Giles quickly gathered his necessary supplies to meet up with the Scoobies before giving a brief yet tender kiss to Olivia and headed out the door, leaving a concerned Olivia and Spike by themselves. The vampire had a fabulous idea as he scrawled something again on the paper and held it for the woman to read.

"You want to watch Passions? Timmy's still down the bloody well."

A smile gracing Olivia's features, she nodded and the pair made their way to the coach before Spike turned the television, thankful that some semblance of sound remained, before he went on to resume watching his absolute favorite show of all time.

_'Now, let's see if little Timmy's finally gonna be rescued at last...'_

* * *

At Professor Walsh's empty lecture hall, Giles was currently assembling the projector and slides before dimly lowering the amount of lights, setting an ambiance with the mood. Xander had closed the last of the blinds before heading down back to the front where the others were gathered. Buffy and Willow sat next to each in the front row seats as a slightly eager Willow was completely ready to take notes while Xander sat on the stairs several chairs away from the girls to one side, waiting a little impatiently with the rest of the gang and a bored Anya sat in the row behind Buffy and Willow munching on her popcorn that she refused to share with anybody else.

Giles pulled the screen down and finalized the overhead projector he managed to scrummage from a dusty janitor closet along with a series of transparencies set up on the desk. With a crack of his knuckles, he pressed the button and classical yet immensely creepy music came to life from the boom box as Giles slid the first transparency on the projector and is revealed on the massive screen.

However, the first transparency is upside down and backwards and the Scoobies were visibly confused as ever. Anya rolled her eyes before holding up her index finger and rotating it in a clearly meant gesture of turning around the transparency. Slightly puzzled, Giles turned to see the overhead and promptly fixed the error as it now correctly said "WHO ARE THE GENTLEMEN?" before placing the next sheet on the projector, a picture of Giles' rather borderline child drawing of a crudely drawn Gentleman, with the title "THEY ARE FAIRY TALE MONSTERS."

On the next sheet blared, "WHAT DO THEY WANT?"

Willow's hand instantly shot up. Before Giles can put the next transparency up, as if planning the big reveal, the witch pointed meaningfully at her heart.

Xander was as confused as ever. "Boobies?"

Giles gave the man a withering look before he set the next sheet on the projector, "HEARTS." along with immaturely sweet cartoon hearts, and not of the real kind. Xander instantly got the idea while Anya simply raised her eyebrows for a moment as she continued to consume more popcorn. Giles placed one slide on after another, revealing the fairy tale of the Gentlemen.

"THEY COME TO A TOWN..." along with two Gentlemen on a hill overlooking a small town with still wickedly scary grins.

"THEY STEAL ALL THE VOICES, SO NO ONE CAN SCREAM." A Gentleman extended his hand and appeared to be pulling a smoke-like mist out of the mouths of a group of people, to represent the voices being stolen.

"THEN..." A Gentleman entered a bedroom that gave Willow the inevitable chill up her spine as she recalled her encounter with Spike attempting to bite her. Or lack thereof, as they both came to find out.

A Gentleman had cut into a sleeping man and is slightly graphic and sort of bloody, followed by yet another slide of the Gentleman holding his victim's heart up. There is blood _everywhere_.

The Scoobies exchanged looks of slight concern and mostly disgust as they realized that Giles might have enjoyed getting a little carried away with the blood there before he stopped briefly to give them some pause. Anya actually found the graphic images kind of neat and shrugged as she munched from her bag of popcorn while Xander began writing something down on his whiteboard.

Another slide revealed, "THEY NEED SEVEN." as the image displayed a once again childish picture of seven hearts, "THEY HAVE AT LEAST TWO."

Xander snapped his fingers to get everyone's attention holding his whiteboard up for everyone, "HOW DO YOU KILL THEM?"

Buffy snorted contemptuously before circling her fist around an imaginary stake,and plunging it down repeatedly.

Everybody just stared at the Slayer as they are more than a little thrown, as the gesture didn't quite read the way she intended. Realizing her mistake, Buffy hurriedly and sheepishly grabbed a stake from her purse before repeating the gesture.

Xander then understood that she meant staking them and not... he immediately stopped his mental processing abilities before he gave himself quite an extremely haunting nightmare. Giles' poker face became one with relief as Willow pretended that nothing was amiss. Alas, Giles shook his head as he positioned the next slide.

"IN THE TALES, NO SWORD CAN KILL THEM." A Gentleman with several swords in him, still appearing with the hauntingly vile grin.

"BUT THE PRINCESS SCREAMED ONCE AND THEY ALL DIED." A princess had screamed her head off with the Gentlemen keeled over quite dead, "THEY CANNOT STAND THE HUMAN VOICE."

Taking a deep breath, Buffy let out her best yell but there yet a single peep to emerge as Buffy pulled a "that's not gonna work" face.

Willow went frantic with an ingenious idea as reached into her bag to pull out a CD and began miming a person singing before mimicking a Gentleman covering his ears in pain and then flopping over dead with his tongue hanging out. Giles held a finger up as he was already ready for that one before adding the next slide, "ONLY A REAL HUMAN VOICE." and a picture of a Gentleman perfectly happy with a gramophone playing nearby. Willow threw her hands up before she pouted.

On her whiteboard, Buffy scribbled the inevitable question to show her Watcher, "How do I get my voice back?" Giles could only place his hands by sides as he pointed to himself and the others before picking up a research tome, for there were still various books splayed open on the nearby table before he placed the final sheet on the projector.

"BUFFY WILL PATROL TONIGHT" and below was an image of a crudely drawn Buffy with a makeshift bow and arrow.

Buffy's jaw dropped in horror at observing the less than flattering picture of herself and promptly held her hands at her sides, as if complaining that her Watcher drew her hips way too large for her liking. Giles threw his hands in the air in sheer frustration of his Slayer's incessant grumbling of his pictures for she knew that art was not one of his strong suits before getting back on track.

With the show and tell concluded, the ex-Watcher pointed to rest of the Scoobies and held up a weighty text. Xander immediately objected and pointed to himself before miming hunting with a rifle. With an quite inaudible sigh, Giles acquiesced and Xander smiled happily, leaving Willow and Anya glancing at each other and relenting about having to do extensive research yet again.

Buffy crossed over to the desk before lifting the picture of the Gentleman closer to her face and she studied the slide for a long moment and realized that it was time to end the Gentlemen's reign of terror.

* * *

Underneath Lowell House, Riley and his commandos were donning their usual military garb before obtaining their stun rifles and expandable batons. Next to them on the small table was the local newspaper with the same stunning headlines.

However, with no other information about the demons or even their appearances, Riley hand signaled for his men to patrol in teams of four and to set their weapons to maximum power, for they had no idea on what they were dealing with. Forrest was given his quadrant in Sunnydale Square while Willis, under Graham's watchful eye, had orders to the surrounding neighborhoods with the intention of everyone rendezvousing back to Lowell House at midnight.

Once the commandos were given the green light from Riley, the squadrons began initializing their military sweeps in their assigned sectors, leaving a solitary Riley before he kept a steady pace to the highest point in Sunnydale as he wanted to scout out the entire town for any of those bizarre creatures seemingly responsible for the recent deaths in town.

With the clock tower in sight, Riley noticed that the bottom was completely boarded up and mentally cursed at not being able to enter.

Until a faint movement was made out behind the clock face. Riley's features contorted to suspicion as he reasoned that whatever was holed up in the tower didn't want to be trifled with. With that, he trudged toward it, keeping an ever vigilant eye for any unusual movement.

* * *

Despite the deafening silence, Sunnydale was in a state of restlessness. Most of the residents essentially sealed off their doors and all lights were shut off, giving the appearance that nobody was home. Buffy was currently patrolling her neighborhood and keenly observed that the usual activity was dead quiet, for no one wanted to be out on such a horrific night like this.

This made the Slayer's job all the more easier for her as she currently kept her drawn crossbow at the ready.

Buffy froze as her heightened senses spotted a blurry movement in the distance. She crept closer to the bushes as she finally made out what appeared to be the Gentleman and she instantly recognized the fairy tale monster. Making the first move, Buffy raised her crossbow at eye level-

**SMACK!**

Two Footmen leapt on the Slayer's back in an attempt to tackle her. Buffy's initial surprise gave way to pure annoyance.

_'**Seriously**?! Now's not a good time!'_

* * *

Under Tina's silent encouragement and tedious research, Tara's desk was covered with notes made about spells and a few books spread open, with one section titled _Spells of Speech and Silence _along with the nearby school directory and an underlined entry:

ROSENBERG, WILLOW D - 214 STEVENSON

Tina wrote Willow's address and dorm phone number on a Post-It pad before ripping off the sticky note to give to a grateful Wiccan, for her hands were trembling.

The older girl tapped the blonde's knee, forcing Tara to meet Tina's amber colored eyes.

"You ok?" she mouthed, knowing that what her friend was about to do was completely unheard of in terms of her mentee's social interaction, despite the months of gentle nudging and not so subtle encouragement for Tara to just go out and meet people.

Easier said than done.

Despite this, Tina motioned to Tara that she would remain here in the room and continue researching until the Wiccan came back from her hopefully successful search of a certain redheaded girl.

The blonde was taking a moment to compose herself, which wasn't lost on the other girl. She snapped her fingers to get Tara's attention as the girl met her mentor's eyes and Tina smiled before mouthing "Good luck", along with two thumbs up.

Shaking her head in amusement, Tara wore the barest hint of a grin before gathering her books and went out the door before closing it, leaving the Barbadian instantly bored amid all the research she swore earlier she was going to look at. She gave an inaudible sigh and questioned why she always did this to herself.

_'Great... now what am I supposed to do?'_

* * *

Tara briskly strolled through the empty campus, constantly looking over her shoulder. Not spotting the bushes until it was too late, she tripped over the shrubs and dropped her books. Quickly dropping down to retrieve them, she remained oblivious to her surroundings and failed to pick up a mysterious rattling in the silent air.

Two Gentlemen floated on the university grounds along with the Footmen and were steadily leering closer to the distracted witch. Another rattle from the lackeys' straitjackets drew Tara's attention as she suddenly sensed something wrong before cautiously turning around to see the evilly smiling Gentlemen with their lackeys loping their way to her.

A soundless scream of terror escaped her lips as she hastily abandoned her books before scrambling to Stevenson Hall, the lackeys gaining surprising speed on a bumbling Tara with the Gentlemen malevolently grinning at the other as another heart will be claimed tonight.

Tara's heart was beating rapidly as she turned a corner just ahead of the Footmen and the Gentlemen leering effortlessly ever so slowly. Dashing in a dead panic, she pounded at a random door in the middle of the hallway!

**"HELP!"**

Yet the cry for help ironically fell on deaf ears.

A dark haired sat up in sheer terror and clutched her sheets in fear but refused to move as she had no idea what was out there. Frustrated, Tara scrambled to bang on another door. Knowing that the Gentlemen were continually floating to her, Tara kept hollering despite the silence.

"Help! Help!"

With the Footmen sauntering behind the approaching Gentlemen, Tara's hand was becoming numb by the smashing of not budging doors before giving up and sprinting to the stairway at the end of the hallway.

_'Oh please somebody hear me!'_

* * *

Buffy kept pounding the Footmen and succeeded in hurling a henchman to the ground before seizing the other by its' head and sharply jerked the neck to one side.

**SNAP!**

In a flash, the lifeless Footman collapsed to the ground and the other lackey took off running as it needed to alert its' master that they were in grave danger. Buffy promptly gave chase for if she was correct, the Footman was going to lead her right where the Gentlemen took residence.

_'Time to make the monsters permanent dead residents.'_

Meanwhile at the ground floor of the clock tower, Riley entered the front door and made his way cautiously throughout the debris riddled space and made his way toward the rickety stairs.

A sudden tackle by a Footman sent the man collapsing to the floor as he lost his rifle as it skittered across the other side of the room. Despite the huge disadvantage, the commando yanked his telescoping baton from his boot pocket before snapping it to a full length before slamming it under the back of the Footman's legs sending the lackey sprawling across.

Yet a second one leapt on him.

_'Where the hell do they keep coming from?!'_

* * *

Tara dashed up the stairs before she turned the corner on the second floor of Stevenson and kept banging door after door.

Willow, asleep on her laptop at her desk and fully dressed, was widely awake as the constant pounding and running startled her out of her sleep. Afraid yet curious what lied beyond, she hesitantly approached her door.

_'Here's hoping my heart stays where it rightfully belongs. I hate to have it stolen.'_

Tara continued to pound at the door before it swung open and revealed yet another evilly grinning Gentleman with the beating heart of a student held in his bony hand. She was momentarily startled as she stepped back and out of her peripheral vision, the first team of Gentlemen reached the hallway with their Footmen stumbling around them before scampering toward the trembling blonde. The adrenaline rush kicking in again, Tara barreled down the hall as she turned to glance back at her increasingly fast pursuers.

Willow finally mustered the courage to take a curious peek outside her door and barely took the first step outside before a certain Tara slammed into her and both girls tumbled to the ground as the redhead silently yelped in pain when her ankle had been twisted a certain way. Willow's door was effectively shut and locked from the inside, to which Willow mentally cursed at forgetting her keys for the first time.

Upon seeing the Gentlemen and their lackeys, they quickly scrambled up and bolted out of the hall to the closest stairway as Willow kept limping from their earlier conjoined impact and rushed down the stairs as fast as they could despite Tara assisting a limping Willow with the Footman barely behind them.

* * *

Riley elbowed one Footman off him into some barrels as the other scrambled back and leapt on the commando's back, sending Riley stumbling to the ground before he reached for his taser rifle. Another Footman that Buffy was pursing had bumbled through the door scared out its' wits as he passed the boarded-up window before Buffy crashed through and knocked down the boards with a shoulder block and shove with her crossbow slung over her back like a rifle and finally tackled him.

Riley pushed the one currently pinning him back into the barrels and backhanded the Footman with a closed fist before flipping the lackey over his shoulder until the first lackey seized Riley again and slammed him into a platform with one arm and both tumbled to the floor.

Riley eventually reached his rifle and slammed the butt into the Footman's bandaged face as Buffy delivered a powerful kick at her Footman before slinging another and reached back for her crossbow. Riley obtained his weapon and rolled in an evasive combat maneuver while Buffy round housed another lackey before flinging one of the other Footmen into a shelf. The commando reached his feet and used his rifle as a club to knock down one still having a hold on him.

Defensive tactics now on the offensive, Buffy and Riley quickly drew and aimed their respective weapons-

At each other.

Buffy and Riley were completely and utterly stunned to see the other here. Buffy's confusion gave to realization that Riley was currently donned in commando style gear and a rifle, as if he was working for the military. Riley's face hardened slightly upon noticing Buffy's powerful stance and a bulky crossbow wielded with authority.

_'What the hell are you doing here?'_

Neither had time to question the other's presence as the three Footman attacked all at once, the close quarters making it impossible to wield their lengthy weapons. Riley slung one over the shoulder while Buffy kept kicking hers repeatedly while the commando backed away far enough to blast a Footman with an electrical charge, causing it to keel over and convulse on the floor.

Buffy widely fired an arrow as the third gained on her and knocked her crossbow down before Riley captured the Footman from behind. The arrow struck Footman snatched Buffy and flung her towards the wall. She stumbled and fell but gracefully landed on her feet to meet the impact. She shoved the lackey into the wall, delivering robust kicks to the Footman's side and the head while launching a mighty left hook.

Buffy saw one scrambling upstairs and she takes off after the Footman before looking at Riley. A look from the commando meant that he seemed to have been in control of his fight, so the Slayer made her decision to follow the one lackey.

One of the lackeys rose up and Riley ducked another blow while Buffy dodged her opponent's staggering swing before spinning to issue a jaunting kick to the head.

Meanwhile, Riley flipped the lackey to the ground again while Buffy walloped a Footman with a powerful left than a sharp right hook as she snagged the lackey before slamming him down to the ground.

Riley was restraining a Footman with a strong arm bar hold before he gazed upward to see one lackey previously blasted from his stun rifle already up and moving as Buffy dashed to clutch a rope before swinging on the rope to drive the heel of her foot hard, sending the lackey flying across the room breaking right through a post and into a shelf. Riley was completely shocked. Buffy was more than strong- she was downright superhuman.

* * *

At Giles' apartment, the ex-Watcher was currently reading a chapter of James Joyce's Ulysses before crossing out of the kitchen with a steaming mug of chamomile tea to soothe his partner's nerves. He and Spike accidentally bumped shoulders and both gave the other a massive eye roll before the vampire opened the fridge to get his Kiss The Librarian' cup of blood and began drinking deep, his face becoming vampiric as he drained the remaining cup.

Still in vamp face, he sauntered to the living room where Anya finally fell asleep on the couch from the agonizing hours of research and curled up with a lengthy yet deeply boring text. Tossing and turning with her neck facing toward Spike, the vampire set his mug on the coffee table before knocking over some more books. Peeved with himself, he knelt down to retrieve them and place them back on the table.

Tired from spending all day researching and walking around the entire town, a weary Xander crawled through the entrance, his mood instantly sobering when he saw a somewhat pale and crashed Anya before Spike's head popped out from the couch still vamp faced with some remaining blood on his lips before Spike stood up and was briefly curious on why Xander had an expression of pure rage on his face before he glanced down at Anya and immediately realizing how bad this must look to the man who despised vampires more than anything in the world.

The vampire rapidly shook his head and was mutely yelling "No!" as Xander launched himself over the couch like a shot, tackling Spike to the floor and repeatedly and violently beating the bleach colored vamp. The commotion instantly awoke Anya and got up in annoyance before noticing that her angry boyfriend was situated on Spike, roughly grappling the vampire with his left and clubbing him with his right and he kept pounding the vampire to submission several times. Upon hearing the crash and commotion, Giles and Olivia rushed out from the back room to see what was going on as Anya kept tapping Xander on the shoulder a few times as a beaten Spike was forcefully pointing to her with his right hand.

"Hey! It's alright! I'm ok!" Anya mouthed and was more than a little worried on why her boyfriend was beating the ever living daylights out of the chipped vamp. Xander saw Anya still alive and well and promptly jumped up to fiercely kiss her before tightly embracing the ex-demon. Anya was extremely puzzled at first, then smiled widely as she was pleased by his true display of caring.

Groaning inaudibly, Spike rose from the floor, his vamp face expressing a dully furious look at the dark haired man. Xander kept hugging Anya before stopping to look at Spike with a distressed face, only to apologetically shrug at him and kissed Anya again with all the passion he had for her. Spike rolled his eyes at the couple while Olivia glanced at Giles then to the couple and the two older partners smiled warmly at the young lovers.

"You wanna go someplace and..." Anya mouthed in her coquettish way before making a rather obscene gesture of a circle with her thumb and forefinger before inserting her other finger in it repeatedly, giving a slight nod to a stunned yet highly pleased Xander. The tall man smiled widely as he and Anya promptly exited the apartment to head back to Anya's for a night of passion, leaving Spike even more irked at what had just happened, followed by a revolted Giles and a mortified Olivia blankly staring at the odd couple.

* * *

It was no use! Willow and Tara tried to push the vending machine, but they both lacked the physical strength to even budge it.

Where was Buffy when Willow needed her?

The pain in the hacker's ankle seized the inopportune moment to flare up, and groaning yet again in silence, she fell backwards as the agony proved too much to even put the slightest amount of pressure. She prayed hard that her ankle wasn't fractured.

"_Shit_!" Willow cursed with a scowl, but the word was still mouthed.

Willow realized that the only way to move the damned machine was with magic, but she also knew that she's never been able to move anything that big before. She didn't have the time to properly cleanse her emotions as the scraping sounds of the Gentlemen's lackeys forcing their way into the flimsy door meant they were almost through the obstacle.

Concentrating on only the machine, Willow was able to get it to budge only an inch and attempting to move it again as the machine rumbled about, but the large machine had finally remained firmly back in place again. The increasingly sharp pressure in Willow's head had forced her to stop. She just could not do it and she never felt so inept up until now as she cursed her apparent lack of power.

Meanwhile, as Tara was observing the whole time of what Willow was attempting to do, she knew that Willow had power, and a lot of power at that. She never felt this much energy since her mother practiced the craft so long ago. Perhaps if they worked together...

Slowly, Willow glanced downward as she felt a tingling feeling in her hand and saw Tara intertwining her fingers with hers. Willow never felt so much energy coming from another person. It felt wonderful and pure. The pair locked eyes, now slightly dilated with magic and something else that neither could grasp at the moment, and they suddenly understood.

Their heads turned swiftly as the vending machine instantly obeyed their command and covered the heavily damaged door within a second.

It was done! They did it!

Willow and Tara gazed at each other again with their eyes still dilated, and then looked downward to their intertwined hands in total awe as well as confusion. Both witches were astonished at feeling such a rush of energy flowing within them and aside from the tentative occasional eye lock, Willow and Tara couldn't do anything more but keep their hands clasped together, the brushing of one's skin against the other's sending the girls in a tingling state of wonder and delight. Yet both of them had the same question in their active minds:

_'How did we do that?'_

* * *

It was total chaos in the clock tower.

Buffy noticed there were only two empty jars remaining and presumed that if they didn't succeed in getting their voices back soon, she and Riley were next in line to lose their much needed organ.

A swift kick from behind had the Slayer tumbling to the ground as three Footmen snagged and held her in place as a nearby Gentleman floated toward her with a wicked grin and a sharp scalpel inching ever closer to Buffy's chest.

A blast of electricity forced the Gentleman back as another arc made its' target on a Footman, temporarily stunning the lackey. With being held by only two Footmen, Buffy flipped over and drop kicked an approaching fourth lackey before breaking free and and jabbed one away.

Riley's weapon had effectively shut down from using all of its' power from the maximum usage, but he pushed through and jumped toward the chaos as another lackey tackled Buffy with two of them going after the cornered Slayer. Riley used the back of his rifle to strike one before another seized him and yanked him backwards. Riley was not deterred as he wrapped a rope around the lackey's arm and neck. Buffy ducked a roundhouse and kicked another lackey in the back before dodging another roundhouse and kicked a stool forward into the Footman to deliver a terrific uppercut.

Riley elbowed the restrained lackey in the head before the other Footman finally recovered from the blow and grabbed him again as Buffy snagged a lackey and shoved it with its' head smashing on the metal cylinders as a Gentleman moved forward with a scalpel at the ready while the Slayer was currently distracted.

Riley evaded the Footman's grasp and bashed its' head into the huge tower bell with quite a walloping force as the bell actually gonged in the surrounding silence, the trembling echos felt far and wide..

* * *

Both Willow and Tara swung their heads to the distant echoing resonance from the bell tower.

"Buffy!" Willow mouthed in terror as she crawled up from the floor before collapsing to the floor and silently hissing in pain as her ankle, seemingly forgotten in the ensuing chaos, flared up again. She tried to climb up again but gripped her ankle as it refused to move with her and was currently working with a deep breathing technique as she felt panic swell up within her until she felt a warm hand on her own. Stunned, the redhead glanced up to see Tara giving a disarming yet caring smile.

"It'll be ok," she mouthed before squeezing Willow's hand for the hacker seemed to have melted upon seeing the sincerity in Tara's eyes and with a strange calmness, Willow relaxed under Tara's touch and shyly looked away as the sharp pain gave way to a now dull ache.

Tara noticed the redhead's pained face with permission, she pulled the pant leg upward, revealing Willow's ankle. It thankfully didn't appear to be broken but there was a definite sign of slight swelling around the site due to the odd angle in which the redhead fell. A twinge of guilt gracing her features as being partially responsible for her crush's agony, Tara gently placed both her hands on the ankle before closing her eyes and began cleansing her emotions to concentrate on a silent healing chant.

Willow was astonished as she observed Tara's intense focus yet serenely peaceful face as she felt immense heat from Tara's naturally warm hands. A moment later, her hands were cooling rapidly, greatly reducing the swelling in the hacker's twisted ankle. Carefully standing up while pulling the blonde with her, Willow was immediately relieved that she was able to walk normally again and she was once again completely stunned and spellbound from her new friend's incredible power.

_'She's so powerful... and wonderful...'_

* * *

The battle didn't appear to let up anytime soon as Buffy was currently whacking the one she already shoved twice before drop kicking him away.

Immense pain contorted her face as a Gentleman sliced into her from behind with the scalpel before backing away, reveling in his success. Riley turned with the highest alarm another lackey snagged Buffy before flinging her into a giant spool of rope and held her in place around the shoulders and neck from behind. Weakened from the blood loss and agony, she was completely unable to break loose. Snarling, Riley seized a heavy pipe and struck the barely restrained Footman as it started to ease its' way out of the ropes, with another hard blow sending the lackey down.

Buffy's vision was starting to fade before a small box right next to the jars of hearts caught her full attention. A sudden flashback to the little girl singing the Gentlemen's lullaby as she held the box brought the Slayer right back to the present. Waving her arms like a madwoman before failing to get Riley's attention, she banged her hands on the giant spool as she was still restrained by the Footmen. The commando understood her hasty gesture and used the butt of his rifle to smash a blue vial right next to the box before gazing at Buffy for her approval.

A quick roll of the eyes and miming a box opening and closing had Riley mouth a "Oh..." before he finally shattered the box. A heavy stream of mist emerged from the broken object before the Footmen threw the Slayer down with two of the streamers of mist lodge right back into Riley's and Buffy's throats.

With a deep inhale, Buffy released a howl.

**"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"**

The wailing went on and on and on as the Gentlemen clutched their heads in sheer agony while the Footman collapsed to the floor with sudden convulsions. After a long intense moment, they simply could not withstand the anguish of the human voice any longer before all of the Gentlemen rigidly stood in place.

Abrupt cranial explosions of Gentlemen and Footmen promptly followed as their heads splattered sickly greenish remains all throughout the tower and Buffy finally ceased her screaming ability. Glorious relief swept through the Slayer as she audibly sighed before surging herself up from the dusty ground. She and Riley exchanged a knowing look that serious explaining needed to be done.

"Riley," Buffy sighed again as she took a step toward the known commando.

Riley couldn't almost meet her intense gaze but he forced himself anyway, for he knew that if he wanted to make things genuinely work between them, he was going to be completely honest with her... just as she hopefully would be with him.

"Buffy..." his eyes remained elsewhere before extending his hand toward the Slayer which was met with a hesitant one.

"Well, we better head back to campus. No doubt people are gonna hear about this," the blonde nudged her head to the floor before immense disgust contorted her face as she stepped in Gentlemen remains, "_Ugh_... essence of brain. And I _just_ bought these boots!"

Riley chuckled before forcing a light smile, "Yeah... we need to get back. To our dorms."

Buffy knew he putting on a front but didn't say anything else as he gently led her down the stairs before the pair exited the clock tower and they remained silent on the journey back to the university.

Making it back without any incident from demon or vampire, the Slayer and the commando waved their goodbyes before Riley entered Lowell House as the Slayer went on her remaining nightly patrol. Yet both shared the exact same thought:

_'This is not going to be easy to explain tomorrow morning.' _

* * *

"You're so cool! Thanks!" Willow enthusiastically spoke out before her words were actually spoken aloud.

Tara's jaw dropped open. "You can talk!"

"As can you!" the other girl excitedly remarked and knew that Buffy had succeeded in bringing everyone's stolen voices right back throughout Sunnydale. Willow was beyond grateful and would never again take speaking for granted as she looked to Tara again with an eager face, "This time, I properly thank you for not only saving my life from the Gentlemen, but you even helped me with my ankle! You gotta teach me that sometime!" Willow babbled frantically before her eyes met the floor in embarrassment, "I mean... if you're ok with teaching that to me... 'cause, you and I... there's something between us. We're uh..." the hacker trailed off lamely and inwardly kicked herself for sounding like a gigantic loser while a shade of deep added color to her pale cheeks.

Tara recognized Willow's embarrassment and felt a kinship with this girl in mutual shyness. Despite the list of endless questions she wanted to ask the redhead, only one came to mind.

"W-who are t-the Gentlemen?"

Willow realized her mistake and mentally cursed herself for revealing a Scooby story to the blonde despite feeling such a powerful connection with her. Answering as honestly as she could without revealing the true nature of her experiences, she began her spiel.

"The Gentlemen... the monsters you and I saw... they're the reason we couldn't speak. They're actually out of a fairy tale," the smaller woman replied as Tara was busy assembling the clues together.

Tara had no idea what to say in response to Willow's statement, but naturally curiosity got the better of her, "Fairy tales? They're actually r-real? I only t-thought they w-were just myths."

"Yep! Fairy tales are indeed real, as Sunnydale unfortunately came to find out. You'd be wise not to go outside after dark. The town's called 'Sunnyweird' for a reason..." Willow muttered darkly as she shook her head from living on the Hellmouth about Sunnydale High for the last eighteen years of her life. The ominous tone from the hacker wasn't lost on Tara but she quickly brushed it as she noticed the soda machine still budged against the laundry room door and moved her head to Willow about the barricaded door.

Both girls glanced at the other and with a nod of recognition, they laced their fingers together. As if sharing one mind, the witches felt the intense rush of power as the soda machine was yanked away from the door, banging violently against the wall and expelling a number of surprisingly still cold drinks, which a delighted Willow hurried to grab at least five cans of root beer.

"Things are looking up today! Free soda!" Willow's overeager tone amused a chuckling Tara before said amusement turned to slight concern as the redhead immediately began drinking one soda, after another, after another...

"Uh, W-Willow?" Tara's eyes slowly grew wide at the vast amount of soda consumed within a five-minute time span. It was an unbelievable sight.

"Want one, Tara?" Willow's now hyperactive mood simply couldn't forget the cute blonde beside her.

"Uh..." was all Tara could reply before being handed a root beer anyway. The redhead proceeded to skip out of the laundry room... before smacking her head on the door frame, causing the hacker to land backwards on the floor. This immediately caused a snort from the blonde witch, which she failed miserably to hide behind her hand before she scurried to the redhead to help her back on her feet, no amount of humor overriding her concern for the fiery haired witch.

"I'm such a spaz..." Willow dejectedly glanced toward the ground as she laid a hand against her now throbbing forehead as the ache eventually went away while the redhead motioned to a slightly trembling blonde to stay right behind her.

"Are you ready?" Willow asked as she made her way to the door while Tara nodded in a remaining nervousness. When the smaller girl clutched the doorknob to take a peek outside, the first thing she noticed was-

"_Ewwww_... brains," Willow scrunched her face in disgust while Tara winced a little herself from seeing the headless slimy corpses on the floor. Tara slipped a little after stepping on a particularly gooey splatter before Willow caught her.

"You ok?"

Tara blushed furiously from the sudden close proximity to her crush, but maintained a smile nonetheless, "Y-yes. Thank you."

The grisly sight of decapitated corpses never deterred Willow's bubbling enthusiasm as she skipped down the long hallway. Tara couldn't hide the chuckling now, and was indeed staring at the redhead's surprising curves.

_'Wow... such a nice butt...'_ she gazed dreamily at the firm ass of her crush.

"Wait! I'm forgetting something! You!" as Willow grabbed Tara's hand and they strolled down the hallway together, both giggling like schoolgirls before the girls went upstairs to stop at Willow's room. Despite the excitement from downstairs, both girls were now at a loss for words.

Willow broke the silence first, "Tara?"

The Wiccan met the hacker's intense eyes and seemed to have fallen deeper and deeper into the redhead's soul, "Y-yes?"

"Thank you so much... I... I couldn't have done it without you..." Willow nervously murmured while blushing a little both with her utterance and at Tara's soulful gaze.

Tara's own cheeks went pink as she gave a small lopsided smile to the redhead. For some reason unknown to her, Willow hugged the blonde. Tara's figure felt so warm and full and just... right against hers. A stunned Tara was totally not expecting the hug, but she quickly embraced back, for Willow's body felt so wonderful and so complete against hers.

_'Damn, she gives a good hug... maybe it's the way she squeezes?'_ Willow briefly wondered before letting go of Tara.

"Do you want to meet up tomorrow?" Willow asked in a hopeful tone as she shyly added, "I have a ten-fifteen morning break right after my networking security class."

"Absolutely," Tara responded almost immediately before a coy smile crept up as she dared to meet Willow's wonderous green eyes, "I'll be there."

_'Networking security. The girl of my dreams is cute, kind, brave, and smart. How did I get so lucky?'_

Tara wore the largest grin on her face as she briefly touched Willow's hands and squeezed them gently in support, with the touch sending both of their hearts in a wonderful flutter as the pair gazed at each other, their eyes slightly dilated with a spark of some kind.

_'Did she feel that?'_

"I'll s-see you tomorrow, W-willow," Tara gave a small wave before heading back to her dorm, a certain skip in her steps not gone unnoticed by a equally joyful hacker.

"Bye, Tara..." Willow sighed dreamily to herself as she gazed at Tara's curves with slightly more than a friendly intention before she literally smacked herself to her senses and sighed wistfully as she pulled a bobby pin from her back pocket to pick the lock to her dorm, usually because Buffy was always the forgetful one when it came to her keys the first few times the best friends lived together, and loudly whooped in celebration when she heard the opening click. Once inside and saw that everything was still in order, minus a heavily snoring Slayer, the hacker shut the door and locked it on the inside to prevent any more mishaps. With a very audible yawn and not caring that she desperately needed a shower, Willow just collapsed on the bed while dressed in the same clothes worn all day and fell asleep within minutes.

* * *

There was a great deal of commotion in the student commons and it simply felt wonderful to be able to hear the many voices filling the silence, but the chirping of birds eventually stirred Willow out her slumber. With a quick stretch of her limbs, the hacker forced herself out of bed before she noticed the other unslept bed which meant Buffy never came back last night. A wave of concern was quickly brushed off as she knew that Buffy could always handle herself and immediately made a mental note to grab some chocolate and vanilla swirl ice cream for her best friend. Gathering her hygiene items and a striped towel, Willow strolled through the hallway to take a brisk and steaming hot shower.

Willow mused to herself about last night, and what she would say to Tara.

_'So do you live at Stevenson Hall? Are you a witch too? How were we able to use our power like that? Were you looking for me? Do you know me like I somehow know you?'_

That last thought bewildered the hacker before she shook her head and twisted the shower knob off. Finally out of the bathroom, Willow quickly assembled her outfit and briskly paced down the stairs to go to her first morning class and almost couldn't stop bouncing in her chair as the two hour long lecture came to an end.

As soon as the elderly professor issued his typical partings in a monotone inflection, a usually studious Willow bustled out of the cramped lecture room and almost stopped in her tracks when she recognized Tara humming a melody while sketching what appeared to be quite intimate to her. The wonderful sight sent Willow's heart into a flutter and wished that she would be able to peek at whatever the beautiful witch was drawing.

"Hey Tara," the hacker waved in her usual ecstatic manner while strolling to her before an intensely focused Tara looked up to see an already brilliantly smiling redhead. With a blush, Tara instantly stowed her sketchbook in her handwoven bag, "Hey, W-W-Willow. How w-was your class?" the blonde questioned as she stood up to properly chat with her new friend.

Willow sighed wistfully before stretching her back, "Long. As always. You think with computers, we'd _all_ know the answers by now, but we don't. And we may never know..."

"Good things come to those w-who w-wait," the taller girl remarked with a faint longing in her tone, for she knew she could always wait forever for Willow.

Whether she became a great friend or maybe something even more, Tara would endlessly remain content so long as the redhead would be a part of her life no matter how small or insignificant.

Willow grinned in response before a replacement of curiosity etched on her face, "So um... how _were_ you able to find me?"

Tara hid her face behind her blonde tresses while she confessed to how she literally stumbled into Willow, "I was able to locate your name with the student d-d-directory. W-W-Willow Rosenberg is what you told m-m-me the other day, and... I w-was on the w-way to your dorm w-when..." she shuddered as the memory from running for her life from the Gentlemen was apparently not going to go away anytime soon.

The fiery haired witch was stunned at Tara's apparent elephant memory as she herself couldn't remember what she said to Buffy the night before the Gentlemen came to town. Though, this may had more to do with the hacker not being to sleep all night after the awesome current between the witches and the sudden rush of potential power in a silent mutual effort last night to save themselves from literally becoming heartless folks to those fairy tale monsters.

"You were there looking for me?" Willow inquired as the pair of budding witches walked toward the student lounge chairs together.

Tara nodded as she honestly answered as to why she was searching for the redheaded hacker, "I thought m-m-maybe we could do a spell... make people talk again. I'd seen you... in the group, the w-w-Wicca group. You were..." the older girl sighed as her stutter made a reappearance once again before Willow's curious eyes forced her to resume her statement, "You were different than them. They didn't seem to know..." she trailed off as she was busy coming up with the nicest way to describe the quite pretentious organization.

Luckily, Willow already knew the answer as she snickered a little, "What they were talking about?"

Tara giggled as well before a shy smile curled on her face while forcing to calm her heart down. This was due to Willow's finishing sentence that exactly came to the blonde's mind, almost as if they always knew what the other was thinking.

With that and a newfound courage, Tara created a miniature quip just to see if her crush would find it hilarious as she thought it would be, "I think if they saw a w-w-witch they would... run the other way."

Willow smiled warmly at her new friend and let out a slight chuckle. She thought it was just so cute when Tara cracked a joke at the expense of the faux witch group before a thought, like always, popped in the overly active girl's mind as she stared wonderingly at the blonde, "How long have you been practicing?"

"Always," Tara replied before rolling her eyes at how cliche that sounded, "I mean, since I was little... My mom used to..." she trailed off in a sort of forlorn way as the last time she felt that much warm and innately pure energy, her mother was still alive. Tara mentally shook her head as she finished the rest of her sentence with a prideful yet contented expression "She um, she had a lot of power. Like you." Tara's intensely blue eyes beamed right through Willow's soul as she felt her breath catch in her throat from the intensity of Tara's stirring gaze before Willow caught the tail end of her friend's remark.

A by now familiar blush colored Willow's pale cheeks. "Oh, I'm not - I don't have much in the way of power," she smiled in a sheepish fashion as Tara gave her a contemplative look. The redhead continued, "Really, I mean most of my potions come out... soup," she chuckled at her own joke which got a slight giggle from the other witch as well. "Besides... spells going awry, friends in danger... I'm _definitely_ nothing special."

Within a flash of a second, Willow's honesty inspired Tara to utter the most bold yet truthful answer to ever emerge from the Wiccan's mouth.

"No, you are."

The unexpected yet sincere compliment sent Willow's heart fluttering again while Tara smiled hesitantly at first before giving Willow a true brilliant grin. In a rare moment such as this, the usually babbling hacker was struck dumbfounded on how to react to such a simply wonderful reply.

_'Does she really understand me... like I understand her?'_

For now, Willow was content with making a wonderful friend.

"Well, I thought we made a pretty good team... not getting killed at all..." the redhead trailed off before the magic they shared last night wormed its' way to the smaller girl yet again as she pressed on excitedly, "With the soda machine, _boom_! Pretty cool," Willow grinned widely at reveling in the newfound potential she amazingly tapped into with Tara before she mentally slapped herself at not offering a responding compliment to Tara's earlier statement and was more than willing to see the blonde's gorgeous lopsided smile once more.

"Seems like you're kinda powerful."

As if it were magic, Tara's grin became even wider if that were possible and Willow briefly wondered if there was such thing as dying from pure happiness, judging by the way her heartbeat soared upward the more Tara smiled.

Tara pulled Willow out of babbling thoughts of happiness, "I'd like to be. I feel like I'm s-stuck. Like I'm at the door and it won't open."

"I know exactly what you mean!" Willow astonishingly exclaimed as she too had being stuck at the door with virtually no way to open. This was so cool that she and this Tara were exactly on the same wavelength.

Tara stammered a bit in what appeared to be a sort of apprehensive way, "Maybe we could..."

"Break through together?" Willow offered hopefully as she never felt... whatever this was... before.

Tara gave Willow another lopsided grin and the budding witches shared a secret delight of having a new friend to practice magic with.

Yet something within Willow was tapped, and the redhead couldn't stop the surprisingly pleasant thought invading her mind.

_'I finally know you now. You're the one in my wonderful dreams that I've had since forever. There's something about you that I can't help but always find my way back to your baby blue eyes. Do you not know how much you mean to me already? You're the one, Tara.'_

* * *

Back at the apartment complex, Giles and Olivia were laying together on his couch as they cuddled.

"So would you say this was, uh, your best visit ever?" the man inquired in a slight chortle as he took a sip of scotch. Olivia could only grin a bit as she was deep in thought with the recent events of the last two days.

"All the time you used to talk about witchcraft and darkness and the like... I just thought you were being pretentious," the woman chuckled briefly and fought to contain the shudder within her as the haunting image of the Gentleman creepily grinning at her was not something she was ever going to mentally erase from her mind in a long while.

"Oh I was," the former high school librarian replied in his usual banter as he gently squeezed his partner in an affectionate manner, "I was also right."

Olivia seemed satisfied with this answer so far. "So everything you told me was true."

"Well no, um, I wasn't actually one of the original members of Pink Floyd..." Giles sheepishly rubbed the back of his hand before tacking on, "But the monster stuff, yes."

"Scary..." was all the woman could utter in a tone that wasn't revealing much.

"Too scary?" Giles dared to question for he knew how overwhelming the recent events were to his girlfriend.

Olivia seemed almost hesitant to reply.

"I don't know."

The woman's almost curt answer seemed to have the ex-Watcher in a barely hidden state of apprehension and he inwardly sighed that his duties as a Watcher, no matter if he was fired or not, were always going to get in the way of a regular life; there seemed to have been no point in connecting to "ordinary" folks if it always to... _this_. The rugged man forced himself to keep the stinging tears at bay as he faced the inevitable decline of his and Olivia's relationship.

_'So be it.'_

* * *

On a bright Thursday morning, Buffy was currently folding her laundry while keeping her door unlocked so she could gather Willow's remaining clothes still being dried in the nearby student laundry center.

A heavy knock at the door had Buffy turning her gaze toward the door before handling the remaining of her laundry folding.

"Hi," a pensive Riley muttered.

Buffy almost couldn't meet the man's gaze after what happened last night.

Still, things needed to be said out loud.

However, she couldn't manage more than a soft "Hi," toward the burly man.

With Buffy's silent nod, he shut the door, knowing that what was about to be revealed could not be made public. The commando trudged to Willow's freshly made bed and sat on the edge of the bed. Buffy mimics Riley's actions as she perched on her own bed.

The tension between was unbearably thick, as the college students remained unusually quiet after last night's harrowing reveal toward the other.

"Well..." Riley began before he was struck with a loss for words as he ran a hand through his hair. He audibly sighed before continuing, "I guess we have to talk."

Buffy shrugged as she struggled to maintain the swirling conflict within her.

"I guess we do."

They just sat in total silence as they faced each other with hands folded in their respective laps. Both of them were only thinking of one thing:

_'How the hell can I explain myself?'_

Seconds to minutes easily ticked by for it seemed that the sound of silence was preferred to speaking...


End file.
